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 ලුප්, a. unelided, unshortened, ලොප්නොකරනලද.

කොටකරනවා, v. t. to shorten, curtail.

ඤ, n. The tenth consonant of the Sanskrit and Pali alphabets and nasal of the palatal or second class. It is often written by the shorter from [ං], as in ආරංචි, වංචා, by [`], චචා. In Sansorit and its derivatives it never stands as an initial or alone, but joined to the following consonant either in its full or shortened form, as වඤ්වා, වංචා, වචා.

මාත්‍රා·හානිය, n. shortening the quantity in metre.