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 තුංග, a. not tall, short, මිටි.

අ දීර්‍ඝ දෘෂ්ටිය, n. short-sightedness, myopy, දුර නොදකින.

අ දීර්‍ඝ දෘෂ්ටිය, n. short-sighted person, myope. E. S.

අ දූර දෘෂ්ටි, a. lit, and fig. short-sighted, දුර නොපෙනෙන; නුවණමඳ.

අ දූර දෘෂ්ටිය, n. short-sightedness, දුර නොපෙනෙන ගතිය; නුවණමඳකම.

අ ප්‍රවේක්ෂණ, a. unforeseeing, කලින් නොදකින; fig. short-sighted, දුරනොදකින, නුවණ මද.

අ ලුප්, a. unelided, unshortened, ලොප්නොකරනලද.

අඟුටු, a. having spines or prickles, කටුඇති; short, stumpy, මිටී.

අඩස්සිය, n. imprisonment (see හිරඅඩස්සිය); constriction, tightness, shortness (of breath), stoppage, stricture, obstruction, (of the bowels).

අඩු ලුහුඬුකම, n. deficiency, defectiveness &c., shortcoming.

අඩු ලුහුඬුවෙනවා, v. i. to fall short, become lacking or defective.

අනු ද්‍රැතය, n. mus. half a druta, semi-quaver, time of a short vowel.

අර්‍ධ මාත්‍රය, n. half a moment; half a short vowel, අඩමත.

අල්පායුස, a (ආයුස), short-lived, E. S.; young, බාල.