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The symbol ''<b>a</b>'' (the first letter of the word ''[[other|autre]]'', or "[[other]]") is one of the first [[algebraic]] [[sign]] s which appears in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]], and is first introduced in 1955 in connection with [[schema L]]. It is always lower case and italicized to show that it denotes the [[little other]], in opposition to the capital '<b>A</b>' of the [[big Other]]. Unlike the [[big Other]], which represents a radical and irreducible [[big Other|alterity]], the [[little other]] is "the other which isn't another at all, since it is essentially coupled with the ego, in a relationship which is always reflexive, interchangeable."<ref>{{S2}} p. 321</ref> In [[schema L]], then, ''a'' and ''a''' designate indiscriminately the [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]]/[[specular image]], and clearly belong to the [[imaginary order]].