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 ්.

අරාම, a. joyless, disconsolate, ප්‍රීතිනැති; unpleasant, අප්‍රිය.

අල්, a. consonantal, viz. having the vowel suppressed, leaving only the consonant.

අල්අකුර, n. vowelless consonant, as ක් in මක්.

අස්වසනවා, v. t. to comfort, console, සනසනවා; pret. අස්වැසුවා; v. n. අස්වැසීම.

අස්වැසිල්ල, n. comfort, consolation, solace, සැනසිල්ල.

අස්වැසිලිකාර, a, comforting, consoling, සැනසිලිකාර.

අස්වැසෙනවා, v. i. to be comforted or consoled, සැනසෙනවා; pret. අස්‍වැසුණ.

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 ශ්වාසනය, ආ ශ්වාසය, n. inhaling; taking comfort, consolation,අස්වැසීම, සැනසීම.

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.

ඇසිර, ඇසුරු, a. joined, associated, consorting with, ආශ්‍රයකරන.

ඇසුරුකරනවා, v. to associate with; consort with, mingle, ආශ්‍රයකරනවා, සමාගම් පවත් වනවා.

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.