Sinhalese
[sin-huh-leez, -lees]
- of or relating to Sri Lanka, its native people, or their language.
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- a member of the Sinhalese people.
- an Indic language that is the language of the majority of the population of Sri Lanka, including Colombo.
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Also Singhalese.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sinhalese
Contemporary Examples
Prabhakaran had come to personify the movement, and his end, so wretched, became the emblem of Tamil defeat and Sinhalese triumph.
“Our country is a Sinhalese one and we are its unofficial police,” one monk announced.
There are many Sinhalese Buddhists who are mortified by the turn their country has taken under the Rajapaksas.
Historical Examples
Just as the Tooth was considered to be the palladium of Sinhalese kings.
The Sinhalese, unlike the Hindus, had no native propensity to speculation.
Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3)Charles Eliot
Sinhalese and Burmese traditions also credit him with the despatch of missionaries who converted Suvarṇabhûmi or Pegu.
The Sinhalese tradition agrees on the whole with the data supplied by Indian inscriptions and Chinese pilgrims.
Such Sinhalese kings as had the power protected the Church and erected magnificent buildings for its service.
Sinhalese
Singhalese or Sinhala
- plural -leses or -lese a member of a people living chiefly in Sri Lanka, where they constitute the majority of the population
- the language of this people, belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family: the official language of Sri Lanka. It is written in a script of Indian origin
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- of or relating to this people or their language
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sinhalese
Sinhalese
adj.
also Singhalese, "pertaining to Sri Lanka," 1797, from Sanskrit Sinhala "Sri Lanka, Ceylon," from simhala-, literally "of lions," from simhah "lion." As the name of a language spoken there, it is attested from 1801.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper