Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sinhala

/ˈsɪnhələ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.46 in modern English

Syllables: Sin-ha-la
IPA: /ˈsɪnhələ/

10

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Synonym of Sinhalese (“language”).

Uncountable

name

The island of Sri Lanka.

Obsolete

name

The kingdom in the island of Sri Lanka mentioned in the Mahabharata.

Etymology

Borrowed from Sinhalese සිංහල (siṁhala), itself borrowed from Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala, literally “lionlike”), from सिंह (siṃhá, “lion”) + -ल (-la), recorded as the name of the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from about the 10th to 12th century, but presumably older, as it is also the source of the name Ceylon in western geographic tradition. The name is sometimes glossed as "abode of lions", referring to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island ( The Asiatic Journal 20 (1836), p. 30). Doublet of Ceylon and Elu.

Origin

Source language: Sanskrit

Word Breakdown

Root: सिंहल

Usage

Inflected Forms

Cinghal (alternative, archaic)

Derived Forms

Singlish

Synonyms

Sinhalese singhalese singhalese language sinhala language sinhalese language

Rhymes With

gala impala koala kamala valhalla masala uppsala pala tala tikka masala challah wallah

Questions

How do you pronounce sinhala?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsɪnhələ/.
What does sinhala mean?: Synonym of Sinhalese (“language”).
Where does sinhala come from?: It is traced to Sanskrit.

How to pronounce sinhala

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sinhala”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈsɪnhələ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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