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 කරණීය, a. that ought not to be done, improper, අකටයුතු: impracticable, කළනොහැ කිවූ.

අ කිරිය, n. (අ priv., කිරිය deed), resultlessness, impracticalness.

අ කීර්‍තතිය, n. dispraise, disgrace, infamy, අපකීර්‍තතිය.

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

අ කෘත්‍ය, a. impracticable, improper. See අකර්‍තව්‍ය.

අ කෞශල අ කෞශල්‍ය, a. unskilful, අසමර්‍ථ, awkward, clumsy, ungraceful, uncouth, දක්ෂ නැති.

අ ගෞරවය, n. disrespect, dishonour, disgrace.

අ ඞධනීයතාව, n. impracticability, කළනොහැකි අමාරුකම.

අ දම්‍ය, a. indomitable, intractable, unsubduable. See අදමනීය.

අ නඩු ක්‍රියාව, අ නඩුව, n. illegal act, injustice, wrong, malpractice, අයුක්තිය.

අ පණ්ඩිතතාව, n, illiteracy &c., නූගත්කම.

අ ප්‍රගුණිත, a. untrained, uneducated, unpractised, පුහුණුනැති, පුරුදුනැති.

අ භාවිත, a. unaccustomed, unpractised, පුරුදු නැති, පුහුණුනැති.

අ මනෝහර, a. (මනඃ: mind, හර taking), unattractive. ungraceful, displeasing: see අම නෝඥ.