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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]].

In the seminar of 1960-1, [[Lacan]] articulates the ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' with the term ''[[agalma]]'' (a Greek term meaning glory, an ornament, an offering ot the gods, or a little statue of a god) which he extracts from [[Plato]]'s ''[[Plato|Symposium]]''. Just as the ''[[agalma]]'' is a precious [[object]] hidden [[inside ]] a relatively worthless box, so the ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' is the [[object]] of [[desire]] which we seek in the [[other]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 177</ref>

It plays an increasingly important part in [[Lacan]]'s [[concept ]] of the [[treatment]], in which the [[analyst]] must situate himself as the [[semblance]] of ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'', the [[cause]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[desire]].

In the [[seminar]]s of 1962-3 and of 1964, ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' is defined as the leftover, the [[remainder ]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[reste]]''), the remnant [[left ]] behind by the introduction of the [[symbolic]] in the [[real]]. This is developed further in the [[seminar]] of 1969-70, in which [[Lacan]] elaborates his [[algebra|formulae]] of the [[four discourses]]. In the [[discourse]] of the [[master]], one [[signifier]] attempts to [[represent ]] the [[subject]] for all other [[signifier]]s, but inevitably a [[surplus]] is always produced; this [[surplus]] is ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'', a [[surplus]] [[meaning]], and a [[surplus|surplus enjoyment]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[surplus|plus-de-jouir]]''). This concept is inspired by [[Marx]]'s concept of [[surplus value]]; ''[[Objet (petit) a|a]]'' is the [[excess ]] of ''[[jouissance]]'' which has no "[[use value]]" but persists for the mere sake of [[enjoyment]].

In 1973, [[Lacan]] [[links ]] ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' to the concept of [[semblance]], asserting that ''''[[Objet (petit) a|a]]'''' is a "semblance of [[being]]."<ref>{{S20}} p.87</ref>

In 1974 he places it at the center of the [[Borromean knot]], at the [[place ]] where the [[order|three order]]s ([[real]], [[symbolic]] and [[imaginary]]) all intersect.