අ, n. The first letter of the Alphabet. It varies bightly in pronunciation, depending sometimes on the meaning or derivation and sometimes on the consonants with which it is combined. It is (1) the clear, distinct sound obtained by shortening ආ ah; (2) the sound of a in negative or miracle. In initial syllables the sound is generally the first of these; the second arises from the dropping of the voice in the unaccented syllables. It is written only when it is the initial letter of a word, but is pronounced after every consonant to which no other vowel is attached, or where it is not suppressed by the sign ්, as කරනවා, karanavā, the final vowel අ, which is long, alone being written;කරන් karan, the vowel අ after න being suppressed by the sign ්.

ආ, n. The second vowel of the alphabet, sounded like a in 'calm' or 'charm' its non-initial form is (ා) following the consonant it vocalizes, as කා Kā.

ආ රම්භ සිතියම, n. initial picture, frontispiece.

ආ රම්භ,ආ රම්භක, a. initial, initiative, introductory, පටන්ගැන්මට අයිතිවූ, මුල්වූ.

ආ රම්භාකෘති, a. initial, elementary, rudimentary, මුල්වූ, මුල් ධාතුවූ.

ආ රම්භාකෘතිය, n. (ආකෘතිය), initial form, rudiment, ධාතුව.

ආරබ්ධ, a. begun, commenced, initial, පටන් ගන්නාලද.

ඇ, n. The third vowel of the alphabet, though in some grammars and vocabularies this and the next are placed last of all. Its sound is a modification of අ, and like the sound of a in fat, bat, mat. Its non-initial form is (ැ) following the consonant it vocalizes, as කැබ්, cab.

ඇත, ඇති, v. There is or are; there is or are enough, sufficit; used also as a verb aux.: with the present, to express the future; with the preterite, to express the perfect with diffidence; with the infinitive to express probability, as ඔහු යන්ට ඇත, He must have — has probably—gone.

ඇළ පිල්ල, n. gram. side piece, viz. the vowel sign (ා) at the side a consonant, as කා, being the non-initial for ආ, ā.

ඈ, n. The fourth vowel of the alphabet, the lengthened sound of ඇ. Its non-initial form is (ැ) following the consonant it vocalizes, as මෑ Mã.

ඉ, n. The fifth vowel of the alphabet; the third in Sanskrit, which has not the two preceding. Its sound is the fine sharp sound of i in pin; its non-initial form is (ි), called ඉස්පිල්ල head or top piece, placed above the consonant it vocalizes: as කි,මි පින්, ki, mi, pin.

ඉස් පිල්ල, n. lit. head-piece: the vowel sign (ි) placed over a consonant, as කී, being the non-initial sign for ඉ.

ඊ, n. The sixth vowel of the alphabet. Its sound is the previous vowel lengthened, and is the same as ee in Peel or Feel. Its non-initial form is ී placed above the consonant it vocalizes, as කී, මී, kí, mí.

උ, n. The seventh vowel of the alphabet. Its sound is that of oo in Foot. Its non-initial forms /?/ and ු called පාපිල්ල—lower or foot piece—are placed below the consonant they vocalize, as කු, මු, koo, moo.