Link Centre Dictionary

Sinhala

sin·hala

UK/ˈsɪnhələ/ US/sɪnˈhɑːlə/ uncommon obsolete
adjective (1) noun (1)

adjective

1.

of or relating to the Sinhalese languages

  • “the Sinhalese versions of the Ramayana”
Synonyms

noun

1.

the Indic language spoken by the people of Sri Lanka

Synonyms

Origin

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.

Related words

Broader terms

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.