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 ්.

අ කිරිය ච දියා, n. non-retributionist, heathen who denies future retribution.

අ තන් ගුණය, අ තදගුණය, අත ගුණය, n. (අ priv., තදගුණය), gram. external attribute, viz. non-inherent attribute or attainment, as එතරවුණ, who has crossed or attained.

අ දායකයා, n. non-giver, non-contributor, නො දෙන අය, illiberal person, ලෝබයා.

අ සංඛ්‍යය, n. lit. the innumerable but used of a definite number, about a vigintillion or the twentieth power of a million.

අ සාධාරණ, a. not general, සාමාන්‍යනොවන, special, විශේෂ; but usually inequitable, partial, unjust, unfair, අනඩු, පක්ෂපාත, අයුතු.

අංගය, n. body, ඇඟ; limb, අවයව; portion, division or branch (as of science), කොට්ඨාසය; quality, attribute, ගුණාංගය. See වේදාංග.

අංගාතිය, n. shambles, butcher's shop, මස්කඩේ.

අගස්ති, අගස්ත්‍ය, n. a rishi so named, who, according to mythology, was born in a water jar, once swallowed the ocean, but voided it again, and is the regent of the star Canopus.

අට විසි පිරිත්, n. pl. the twenty-eight incantations or recitations of the attributes of twenty-eight Buddhas for protection or escape from demons or disease.

අන්තඃ, prefix, signifying within internal. The same as අන්තර්, but used before certain letters, as below.

අනාගාමියා, n. non-returner, viz, one who does not re-incarnate either in this or a divine world, but attains a Brahma world.

අනු බලදෙනවා, v. to buttress, support; sustain; encourage, urge on, abet; රුකුල්දෙනවා, උසු ලනවා, පොළඹවනවා.

අනෝදා, marsh-mallow, Abutilon asiaticum (Malv.).

අප රාධකාරයා, n. As above, but sp the criminal, malefactor, වරදකාරයා.