The Aramaic word a (אָע) means wood or timber. It is the Aramaic cognate of the Hebrew ets (H6086). Used in Ezra and Daniel, it refers to the building timber used in temple construction and to wooden materials generally.
A — wood or timber — in the context of Ezra represents the material provision God supplied for the rebuilding of His temple. The use of costly timber for sacred construction points to the truth that worship deserves our best materials and labor. Wood also carries symbolic weight: from the wooden ark of Noah to the wooden cross of Christ, timber has been the medium of God's greatest saving acts.