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 ලිඛිත, a. unwritten, undelineated, ලියානැති, සටහන්කරලා නැති.

අක්ෂර චන, අක්ෂරචුචු, n. writer, clerk, ලියන්නා.

අක්ෂර ජීවකයා, n. one who lives by writing, scribe, clerk, ලිපිකරුවා.

අක්ෂර ලිඛිතය, n. writing, manuscript, ලියවිල්ල.

අක්ෂර සංස්ථානය, n. (සංස්ථානය placing together), collocation of letters, writing, ලිය විල්ල, ලේඛනය.

අකේඛාහිණිය, n. septillion. E.S. See අකේෂෟහි. අක්තය, අක්තේ, n. written license or warrant, අස්තය.

අතකුරු, n. pl. (අත්අකුරු), written letters, handwriting.

අතර, conj. or post. in the interval, while, as ඔහු ලියන අතර, while he writes; ඒ අතර (see අතරතුරේ).

අත් අකුර, n. written letter of the alphabet; pl. අත්අකුරු‍: written letters, handwriting.

අත් ලියවිල්ල, n. handwriting, manuscript.

අත්සන්කරනවා, අත්සන්දමනවා, v. t. to sign by writing one's name, put signature to.

අධෝ ලිපිය, n. what is written below the line, &c.; foot-note.

අධෝක්ෂරය, n. (අධෝ අක්ෂරය), letter written underneath (for correction).

අල්කරනවා, v. t. to unvocalise by suppressing the vowel; in writing, to add the අල් mark (/?/ or /?/) for that purpose.