Examples of General Sinhala Slang
Most of below slang are regarded as non-offensive and jovial. ``
? Aathal - happy feeling, state of happiness. Aaathal Kedenawa is used to describe a situation which disturbs the status quo.
? Ammapa! - used to swear/convince if listner(usually a wellknown person) had doubts. Ammapa? - way of expressing astonishment
? Ammata Hudu or Ammata Udu - way of expressing surprise
? Andenawa - Literally means ' makes me cry ' . Can be used to mean wide range of feelings from sorrow to hapiness. Could also mean ' great ' , ' hard to believe ' in certain contexts (e.g. Maara lassana baduwak machan, dekkama andenawa! which means ' Thats a very pretty girl, and I can ' t explain the pleasure of seeing her ' or Kiyala wedak ne, traffic eka dekkahama andenawa which means ' the traffic jam makes me sick ' )
? Anaa Gannawa - (literally to ' getting mixed up ' ), Anenawa - something is getting out of hand, becoming worst or messy. (e.g. wedi weda karanna gihin wede anuna)
? Ena Gannawa - (literally to ' getting pricked ' ) usually refers to the situation of getting rejected or getting failed ( exam, love, work), a popular derivative Ahala Ena Gannawa (e.g. Pora oya baduwagen keepa parakma ahala enagena thiyenawa means ' guy got rejected (of love) by that girl several times ' )
? Ban or Bang - General friendly way of adressing a male or female. Mostly used by males to addres males (e.g. mokada ban kegahanne? means ' why are you shouting man? ' . This is similar to Indian expression Yarr or Americanism ' man ' .
? Bata or Batayak - A cigarette. (e.g Batayak gahamuda? means ' Shall we have a smoke? ' )
? Boga or Bo
ga - Partially taboo word which means excrement Boga Charge means having a nature call.
? Charter or Saater - (with ' r ' pronounced) An expression of disrepute.
? Choo or Chu - urine. Chu karanawa or Choo Danawa means to pass urine. Hujja is a more vulgar/colloquial term for urine, which is not used by upper social segments.
? Ela kiri - means ' very good quality ' or ' great ' . This is always used in friendly context. Ex: when someone is very happy with something, this is used. The word Ela is also used as a shortened form. Note the site www.ElaKiri.com which is named after this slang.
? Gal Kireema - To sneak something out of it ' s place. To shop-lift, steal (small items) (e.g. Methana tibba calculator eka kauru hari gal karala means ' someone had sneaked out the calculator from here ' ) This is not to be confused with Gal Kepeema which has a sexual meaning (see further below)
? Gansiya - A Gang.
? Gindara Wage - Meaning some thing really good, or really matches the requirments.
? Gon Petiya - A competent worker who performs excellently. Usually a comment made by a superior/boss behind his back. (not in mainstream use though)
? Goo - Taboo word for excrement (similar to ' shit ' ).
? Goo Case - messy/problamatic/out of hand situation
? Haalparuwa - useless, unlikable person.
? Jarawa - ' Jarawa denawa ' means to bribe some one.
? Kabba - An inferior or weaker One (specially in sports, game or an activity which requires skill and experience . plural Kabbo
? Kaduwa or Kadda - when used in the conext kaduwa sira num interview eka goda ( ' interviiew will be a breeze if fluent in English ' ) means the ' English Languge ' .
? Kealla - literally means ' a piece ' . Kealla ( ' keali ' in plural form) refers to an eye catching girl. Commonly used by young males. (e.g. Sira Kealla). (Note: spelling it as either ' Kalla ' or ' Kella ' does not give the correct pronounciation. Therefore Kealla is used)
? Kossa or Kochchiya - Disrespectful term to refer to a police constable. The respectful slang would be Ralahami which is also used by police officers to refer to other fellow officers.
? Kudu - heroin or other similar narcotics
? Mala or Suusthiya - roll of Ganja( Cannabis or pot) for smoking
? Mala Penna - got angry. Mala in this context would mean anger. Thada una is also used to mean the same. Negga can mean the same and is used mostly by females. Due to the similar sexual slang for ' erection ' ; males usually avoid using Negga to mean the anger, as it can be misinterpreted for having sexual arousal.
? Machan or Machang - Used by males to address a fellow male. Similar to ' Mate ' or ' Brother ' . Literal meaning (of the original Tamil word) is ' brother-in-law ' . ' Machan ' is rarely used by females to refer to a fellow male (and even rarely to a fellow female) but not regarded as a mainstrem usage. Machan is quickly becoming the de-facto standard in addressing same age or same rank peers in most social context including office environments. In private sector office environments, ' Machan ' is especially used by senior person to address the suborinates to create (sometimes, false) sense of equity.
? Maarai - suprisingly good. Similar to Ela
? Metta - A foolish person, An idiot
? Mona magulakda - Means ' What the heck is it ? ' but literaly magula means ' wedding ' .
? Noandi - (Public) Embarrassment. Similar to Pal Una, Kicha Una
? Palayan Yanna or Ane Palayan Bang Yanna - Entire expression literally traslates in to ' get outa here ' and coincidently (or not so coincidently) it means exactly the same as the English language slang ' get outa here ' which means that ' We don ' t beleive you '
? Passa - backside or buttocks.
? Patta Gahanawa - to hit hard, to tharsh (as in Muwa patta gahanna one karapu wedeta) or to abuse ( as in Oya enduma den sathiyakma patta gahala thiyenne)
? Pora - male, Guy. Note that Baduwa used in this context alongside with Pora is the female form, and does not necessarily have a sexual cannotation. (e.g. ' Machan, phone ekata answer kale porakda baduwakda? ' means ' Who answered the phone, a guy or a gal? ' ). However, Baduwa is also used in a sexist context (see below)
? Siraa - Serious. Derives from the English word ' Serious '
? Sinduwak Kiyanawa - Well hidden euphemism to mean ' urinate ' , nature call (e.g. man tak gala sinduwak kiyala ennam)
? Somiya - happy feeling, state of happiness. (use of Aathal Eka is preferred over Somiya in most social circles now)
? Thel Bedanawa or Thela Bedanawa - Trying to thrust subjective ideology upon others in the pretence of giving advice (used mostly in campuses). ' Thela ' alone is used sometimes.
? Vandiya - Vehicle, and derived from the Tamil word for Vehicle ' Vandi '
? Wala - Mischievous stuff (e.g. Wala Beseema refers to involving in lof of ' extra curricular ' activities or collective misbehaviour)
? Wali - argumentative, disputatious, quarrelsome. Waliya means the quarrel. Opposite of Wali is usually Shape(e.g. ' wali num apith wali, shape num apith shpe ' ). Also note the term Kokka (literally ' hook ' ) which also means argumentative, disputatious, but not quarrelsome.
? Wela - porn wela banawa downloading porn
[ edit] Examples of Lengthy Slang (non taboo)
Following are striken out since is it doubtful if these are popular slang. Can the contributor please comment on the validity of having these here in the Talk page? Can the contributor specifiy the social groups whom uses these terms?--Ritigala Jayasena 08:02, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
These are not used commonly in Sri Lanka , except Pissu Hadena Sanda!, which was popular and commonly used in 80 ' s. [user - Gihan] 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I thought so! And unless there are any valid objections, I will be removing the striken out content from the page, and moving this discussion and the below content to the discussion page, within next 48 hours Ritigala Jayasena 03:26, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I can see that there is a person with IP 70.244.147.7 who keeps un-striking this section. Since it is only one person who is interested in getting this in to the page, I guess I can still go ahead and remove the following. Ritigala Jayasena 09:50, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
? Amma gahai mata once again - shows the surprise, excitement
? Enna sudo bunt eka dige, man ennan pavement eka dige - excitment, to describe some thing unusual
? sanda sahinda sanda kirana -more like saying ela kiri, excellent
? Ammata who cut your hair - another way of saying mother fucker, showing anger
? Pissu Hadena Sanda! - Shows surprise literally translates as ' Makes me crazy ' . This is adopted in to media as well
? Jambu Gahen Wetenawa - Euphemism for a girl attaining puberty. There are many other old and well establish slang for the same such as Loku Lamayek Wenawa, Loku Wenawa, Malwara Wenawa
[ edit] Examples of Swear Words
? Ado - Means ' Hey ' or ' Oi ' . Offensive when not used between friends.
? Bambuwa - Literally means Bamboo rod. Means ' nonsense ' . Bambu gahaganin! usually means ' No way, get lost '
? Kehelmala - Literaly means Banana Foliage. Means ' nonsense ' when used in Mona kehelmalak da! ( ' what nuisance ' or ' what nonsense ' )
? Magula - Literally means ' wedding ceremony ' but means ' nuisance ' or ' nonsense ' when used in Mona magulak da manda or Mata me magula karala epawewa (I am fed up with this shit)
? Paraya - Means ' outcast ' or ' outsider ' . Always offensive. Paratti which is the female version is especially offensive when used in Paratta Belli which literally translates as ' outcast bitch '
? Ponnaya or Pontiya - eunuch or sometimes used to refer to a submissive male homosexual.
? Redda - means cloth (female garment or under garment) but offensive when used in ' Mona reddak da! ' (means ' what the hell ' ) or ' Thoge Aachchige redda ' (your grandma ' s garment)
? Tho and Thoge - means ' you ' and ' yours ' but offensive when used with an angry tone
? Vesi - Prostitute, Whore. Patta Vesi is a stronger abusive term.
? Waathayak - nuisance. (literal meaning - expulsion of gas by breaking wind)Mala Wathayak means big nuisance
? Yako - Means ' You devil ' . This term is not offensive when used between friends.
[ edit] Examples of Equating People with Animals
For the purpose of swearing and for fun, it is a common practice in any language/culture to equate people with animals. Each language/culture has popular set of such animals referances used for this purpose. Each animal represents a particular set of characteristic which can be positive or negative. In any culture, usually an animal like ' Pig ' is used with negative cannotation and an animal like ' Lion ' with positive cannotation.
? Balla - (Dog) <tbd>
? Belli - exactly the same usage as ' Bitch ' and literally translates to ' Bitch ' . Patta Belli is a very offensive term.
? Bellige Putha - translates literally to ' son-of-a-bitch ' and means exactly the same.
? Booruwa - (Donkey). person who silly and doing damages due to lack of knowlege. derivative is Puththalam Booruwa Literally donkey who lives in ' Puththalama ' , ' Puththalama ' is a city in Sri Lanka .
? Gas Gemba - (type of Frog) <tbd>
? Gerandiya - (Garden Snake) <tbd>
? Gona or Haraka or Meeharaka or Eladena - (Bull, Buffalo , Cow) <tbd>
? Koka - (Heron) Tall person
? Kukula - (Cock) <tbd>
? Nariya - (Jackall) <tbd>
? Naya - (Cobra) <tbd>
? Sinhaya - (Lion) Brave, person with good principles
? Uura - (Pig) Glutton, unhigenic person
? Gal Aanda - (type of Eel) Elusive, Doggy, Cunning type of person.
[ edit] Examples of Ethnic Slurs
These terms are offensive when used by a person outside the ethnic demoraphic group, to refer to a person of that demographic group.
? Cheena - Person of chineese origin
? Demala - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Tamil origin.
? Dambaya - Relatively new term to refer to a person of Indian nationality. (Living in India ). This term is used mostly buy office workers of Sri Lanka , who also has to interact with people from India . Derivative from a name for ancient India , which is ' Dambadiva '
? Hambaya - Rather outdated term to refer to a person of Muslim origin.
? Kalla - Person with a dark skin. Can refer to a person with African origin.
? Kallathoni - Refers to any illegal immigrant or non-citizan, especially from India
? Kochchiya - Rather outdated term to refer to a person of Indian origin.
? Lansiya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Dutch origin.
? Mattaya - Used by the Sinhala/Tamil majority to refer to a person of Muslim origin hailing from East of the island(Ampara, Pothuvil, Madakalapuwa area).
? Sakkiliya - Derived from a name of a Dalit like caste that came over relatively recently from India. Originally used by the Sinhalese majority as a pejorative. Usually refers to a very unhygienic or uncultured person, who lacks basic manners.
? Sudda - Used by the Sinhala/Tamil majority to refer to a person of white caucasian or European origin. Generally refers all pale white-skinned people, and literal translation is ' white one '
? Thalaya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Tamil origin from North ( Jaffna )
? Thambiya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Muslim origin. The literal meaning of ' Thambi ' is younger brother (in Tamil), Originally, this must have been used not as an offensive term but an affectionate one.
Most of below slang are regarded as non-offensive and jovial. ``
? Aathal - happy feeling, state of happiness. Aaathal Kedenawa is used to describe a situation which disturbs the status quo.
? Ammapa! - used to swear/convince if listner(usually a wellknown person) had doubts. Ammapa? - way of expressing astonishment
? Ammata Hudu or Ammata Udu - way of expressing surprise
? Andenawa - Literally means ' makes me cry ' . Can be used to mean wide range of feelings from sorrow to hapiness. Could also mean ' great ' , ' hard to believe ' in certain contexts (e.g. Maara lassana baduwak machan, dekkama andenawa! which means ' Thats a very pretty girl, and I can ' t explain the pleasure of seeing her ' or Kiyala wedak ne, traffic eka dekkahama andenawa which means ' the traffic jam makes me sick ' )
? Anaa Gannawa - (literally to ' getting mixed up ' ), Anenawa - something is getting out of hand, becoming worst or messy. (e.g. wedi weda karanna gihin wede anuna)
? Ena Gannawa - (literally to ' getting pricked ' ) usually refers to the situation of getting rejected or getting failed ( exam, love, work), a popular derivative Ahala Ena Gannawa (e.g. Pora oya baduwagen keepa parakma ahala enagena thiyenawa means ' guy got rejected (of love) by that girl several times ' )
? Ban or Bang - General friendly way of adressing a male or female. Mostly used by males to addres males (e.g. mokada ban kegahanne? means ' why are you shouting man? ' . This is similar to Indian expression Yarr or Americanism ' man ' .
? Bata or Batayak - A cigarette. (e.g Batayak gahamuda? means ' Shall we have a smoke? ' )
? Boga or Bo
ga - Partially taboo word which means excrement Boga Charge means having a nature call.? Charter or Saater - (with ' r ' pronounced) An expression of disrepute.
? Choo or Chu - urine. Chu karanawa or Choo Danawa means to pass urine. Hujja is a more vulgar/colloquial term for urine, which is not used by upper social segments.
? Ela kiri - means ' very good quality ' or ' great ' . This is always used in friendly context. Ex: when someone is very happy with something, this is used. The word Ela is also used as a shortened form. Note the site www.ElaKiri.com which is named after this slang.
? Gal Kireema - To sneak something out of it ' s place. To shop-lift, steal (small items) (e.g. Methana tibba calculator eka kauru hari gal karala means ' someone had sneaked out the calculator from here ' ) This is not to be confused with Gal Kepeema which has a sexual meaning (see further below)
? Gansiya - A Gang.
? Gindara Wage - Meaning some thing really good, or really matches the requirments.
? Gon Petiya - A competent worker who performs excellently. Usually a comment made by a superior/boss behind his back. (not in mainstream use though)
? Goo - Taboo word for excrement (similar to ' shit ' ).
? Goo Case - messy/problamatic/out of hand situation
? Haalparuwa - useless, unlikable person.
? Jarawa - ' Jarawa denawa ' means to bribe some one.
? Kabba - An inferior or weaker One (specially in sports, game or an activity which requires skill and experience . plural Kabbo
? Kaduwa or Kadda - when used in the conext kaduwa sira num interview eka goda ( ' interviiew will be a breeze if fluent in English ' ) means the ' English Languge ' .
? Kealla - literally means ' a piece ' . Kealla ( ' keali ' in plural form) refers to an eye catching girl. Commonly used by young males. (e.g. Sira Kealla). (Note: spelling it as either ' Kalla ' or ' Kella ' does not give the correct pronounciation. Therefore Kealla is used)
? Kossa or Kochchiya - Disrespectful term to refer to a police constable. The respectful slang would be Ralahami which is also used by police officers to refer to other fellow officers.
? Kudu - heroin or other similar narcotics
? Mala or Suusthiya - roll of Ganja( Cannabis or pot) for smoking
? Mala Penna - got angry. Mala in this context would mean anger. Thada una is also used to mean the same. Negga can mean the same and is used mostly by females. Due to the similar sexual slang for ' erection ' ; males usually avoid using Negga to mean the anger, as it can be misinterpreted for having sexual arousal.
? Machan or Machang - Used by males to address a fellow male. Similar to ' Mate ' or ' Brother ' . Literal meaning (of the original Tamil word) is ' brother-in-law ' . ' Machan ' is rarely used by females to refer to a fellow male (and even rarely to a fellow female) but not regarded as a mainstrem usage. Machan is quickly becoming the de-facto standard in addressing same age or same rank peers in most social context including office environments. In private sector office environments, ' Machan ' is especially used by senior person to address the suborinates to create (sometimes, false) sense of equity.
? Maarai - suprisingly good. Similar to Ela
? Metta - A foolish person, An idiot
? Mona magulakda - Means ' What the heck is it ? ' but literaly magula means ' wedding ' .
? Noandi - (Public) Embarrassment. Similar to Pal Una, Kicha Una
? Palayan Yanna or Ane Palayan Bang Yanna - Entire expression literally traslates in to ' get outa here ' and coincidently (or not so coincidently) it means exactly the same as the English language slang ' get outa here ' which means that ' We don ' t beleive you '
? Passa - backside or buttocks.
? Patta Gahanawa - to hit hard, to tharsh (as in Muwa patta gahanna one karapu wedeta) or to abuse ( as in Oya enduma den sathiyakma patta gahala thiyenne)
? Pora - male, Guy. Note that Baduwa used in this context alongside with Pora is the female form, and does not necessarily have a sexual cannotation. (e.g. ' Machan, phone ekata answer kale porakda baduwakda? ' means ' Who answered the phone, a guy or a gal? ' ). However, Baduwa is also used in a sexist context (see below)
? Siraa - Serious. Derives from the English word ' Serious '
? Sinduwak Kiyanawa - Well hidden euphemism to mean ' urinate ' , nature call (e.g. man tak gala sinduwak kiyala ennam)
? Somiya - happy feeling, state of happiness. (use of Aathal Eka is preferred over Somiya in most social circles now)
? Thel Bedanawa or Thela Bedanawa - Trying to thrust subjective ideology upon others in the pretence of giving advice (used mostly in campuses). ' Thela ' alone is used sometimes.
? Vandiya - Vehicle, and derived from the Tamil word for Vehicle ' Vandi '
? Wala - Mischievous stuff (e.g. Wala Beseema refers to involving in lof of ' extra curricular ' activities or collective misbehaviour)
? Wali - argumentative, disputatious, quarrelsome. Waliya means the quarrel. Opposite of Wali is usually Shape(e.g. ' wali num apith wali, shape num apith shpe ' ). Also note the term Kokka (literally ' hook ' ) which also means argumentative, disputatious, but not quarrelsome.
? Wela - porn wela banawa downloading porn
[ edit] Examples of Lengthy Slang (non taboo)
Following are striken out since is it doubtful if these are popular slang. Can the contributor please comment on the validity of having these here in the Talk page? Can the contributor specifiy the social groups whom uses these terms?--Ritigala Jayasena 08:02, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
These are not used commonly in Sri Lanka , except Pissu Hadena Sanda!, which was popular and commonly used in 80 ' s. [user - Gihan] 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I thought so! And unless there are any valid objections, I will be removing the striken out content from the page, and moving this discussion and the below content to the discussion page, within next 48 hours Ritigala Jayasena 03:26, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
I can see that there is a person with IP 70.244.147.7 who keeps un-striking this section. Since it is only one person who is interested in getting this in to the page, I guess I can still go ahead and remove the following. Ritigala Jayasena 09:50, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
? Amma gahai mata once again - shows the surprise, excitement
? Enna sudo bunt eka dige, man ennan pavement eka dige - excitment, to describe some thing unusual
? sanda sahinda sanda kirana -more like saying ela kiri, excellent
? Ammata who cut your hair - another way of saying mother fucker, showing anger
? Pissu Hadena Sanda! - Shows surprise literally translates as ' Makes me crazy ' . This is adopted in to media as well
? Jambu Gahen Wetenawa - Euphemism for a girl attaining puberty. There are many other old and well establish slang for the same such as Loku Lamayek Wenawa, Loku Wenawa, Malwara Wenawa
[ edit] Examples of Swear Words
? Ado - Means ' Hey ' or ' Oi ' . Offensive when not used between friends.
? Bambuwa - Literally means Bamboo rod. Means ' nonsense ' . Bambu gahaganin! usually means ' No way, get lost '
? Kehelmala - Literaly means Banana Foliage. Means ' nonsense ' when used in Mona kehelmalak da! ( ' what nuisance ' or ' what nonsense ' )
? Magula - Literally means ' wedding ceremony ' but means ' nuisance ' or ' nonsense ' when used in Mona magulak da manda or Mata me magula karala epawewa (I am fed up with this shit)
? Paraya - Means ' outcast ' or ' outsider ' . Always offensive. Paratti which is the female version is especially offensive when used in Paratta Belli which literally translates as ' outcast bitch '
? Ponnaya or Pontiya - eunuch or sometimes used to refer to a submissive male homosexual.
? Redda - means cloth (female garment or under garment) but offensive when used in ' Mona reddak da! ' (means ' what the hell ' ) or ' Thoge Aachchige redda ' (your grandma ' s garment)
? Tho and Thoge - means ' you ' and ' yours ' but offensive when used with an angry tone
? Vesi - Prostitute, Whore. Patta Vesi is a stronger abusive term.
? Waathayak - nuisance. (literal meaning - expulsion of gas by breaking wind)Mala Wathayak means big nuisance
? Yako - Means ' You devil ' . This term is not offensive when used between friends.
[ edit] Examples of Equating People with Animals
For the purpose of swearing and for fun, it is a common practice in any language/culture to equate people with animals. Each language/culture has popular set of such animals referances used for this purpose. Each animal represents a particular set of characteristic which can be positive or negative. In any culture, usually an animal like ' Pig ' is used with negative cannotation and an animal like ' Lion ' with positive cannotation.
? Balla - (Dog) <tbd>
? Belli - exactly the same usage as ' Bitch ' and literally translates to ' Bitch ' . Patta Belli is a very offensive term.
? Bellige Putha - translates literally to ' son-of-a-bitch ' and means exactly the same.
? Booruwa - (Donkey). person who silly and doing damages due to lack of knowlege. derivative is Puththalam Booruwa Literally donkey who lives in ' Puththalama ' , ' Puththalama ' is a city in Sri Lanka .
? Gas Gemba - (type of Frog) <tbd>
? Gerandiya - (Garden Snake) <tbd>
? Gona or Haraka or Meeharaka or Eladena - (Bull, Buffalo , Cow) <tbd>
? Koka - (Heron) Tall person
? Kukula - (Cock) <tbd>
? Nariya - (Jackall) <tbd>
? Naya - (Cobra) <tbd>
? Sinhaya - (Lion) Brave, person with good principles
? Uura - (Pig) Glutton, unhigenic person
? Gal Aanda - (type of Eel) Elusive, Doggy, Cunning type of person.
[ edit] Examples of Ethnic Slurs
These terms are offensive when used by a person outside the ethnic demoraphic group, to refer to a person of that demographic group.
? Cheena - Person of chineese origin
? Demala - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Tamil origin.
? Dambaya - Relatively new term to refer to a person of Indian nationality. (Living in India ). This term is used mostly buy office workers of Sri Lanka , who also has to interact with people from India . Derivative from a name for ancient India , which is ' Dambadiva '
? Hambaya - Rather outdated term to refer to a person of Muslim origin.
? Kalla - Person with a dark skin. Can refer to a person with African origin.
? Kallathoni - Refers to any illegal immigrant or non-citizan, especially from India
? Kochchiya - Rather outdated term to refer to a person of Indian origin.
? Lansiya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Dutch origin.
? Mattaya - Used by the Sinhala/Tamil majority to refer to a person of Muslim origin hailing from East of the island(Ampara, Pothuvil, Madakalapuwa area).
? Sakkiliya - Derived from a name of a Dalit like caste that came over relatively recently from India. Originally used by the Sinhalese majority as a pejorative. Usually refers to a very unhygienic or uncultured person, who lacks basic manners.
? Sudda - Used by the Sinhala/Tamil majority to refer to a person of white caucasian or European origin. Generally refers all pale white-skinned people, and literal translation is ' white one '
? Thalaya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Tamil origin from North ( Jaffna )
? Thambiya - Used by the Sinhala majority to refer to a person of Muslim origin. The literal meaning of ' Thambi ' is younger brother (in Tamil), Originally, this must have been used not as an offensive term but an affectionate one.
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