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 ක්ෂණ, a. not momentary, enduring, පවතින,

අ ක්‍රාන්ත, a. not passed, not overcome, unsurpassed. E. S.

අ කිටන, a. (කිටන something), destitute, necessitous, කිසිත් නැති, poor, දිළිඳු; free from all passions, කෙලෙස් නැති.

අ කීකරුවෙනවා, v. i. to become disobedient, to disobey.

අ කෘත හස්ත, a. (හස්ත hand), of unpractised hand, unaccustomed, unskilled, ‍නුපුරැදු, අසමර්‍ථ.

අ ගද, a. free from disease, healthy, wholesome, සනීප.

අ ගුණ, a. void of goodness, churlish, ill-natured, evil; inefficacious; unwholesome, noxious.

අ දර්‍ශනවෙනවා, v. i. to become invisible, disappear, නොපෙනියනවා.

අ දෘශ්‍යවෙනවා, v. i. to become invisible or occulted, නොපෙනීයනවා.

අ දෘෂ්ටය, n. something unseen, accident. See අදිස්සිය.

අ නියමය, n. something undecided, contingence, නියමනැති දෙයක්.

අ නිෂ්‍ටවෙනවා, r. i. to become inauspicious, &c., අසුභ වෙනවා.

අ පථය, a. (අ priv.), unwholesome, innutricious (diet), අගුණ; unsuitable, නුසුදුසු.

අ පථ්‍ය විහරණය, n. unwholesome or injurious mode of living, අගුණවනලෙස හැසිරීම.