ඔ — o
«o» is a vowel of Sinhala, the “the Sinhala script” script, read as “o”. The usual “o” as in “more”. For example, in the word “ඔයා” — you. The Sinhala alphabet has 76 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “ඔව්” — yes.
In short
| Character | ඔ |
| Name | o |
| Sound | o |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 16th of 76: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ඓ and ඕ, appears in 61 words of this site.
How it sounds
The usual “o” as in “more”
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- ඔයාoyāyou
The character in the “six more — and four from sanskrit” group
The first six are met constantly; the last four (ඍ ඎ ඏ ඐ) almost never: these are the Sanskrit syllabic “r” and “l”, left in the table for completeness.
Words with this character
- ඔව්ovyes
- ඔයාoyāyou
- ඔහුohuhe
- ඔයාගේ නම මොකක්ද?oyāgē nama mokakda?what is your name?
- ඔක්කොමokkomaaltogether
- ඔයා කවදාද එන්නේ?oyā kavadāda ennē?when will you come?
- ඔලුවoluvahead
- ඔලුව රිදෙනවාoluva ridenavāheadache
- ඔක්කාරයිokkārayito feel sick
- ඔක්කොම හොඳයිokkoma hondayieverything is fine
- ඔෆිස් එකofis ekaoffice
- ඔයා හරිoyā hariyou're right
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «o» it is “o”, as in the word “ඔයා”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 76 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Sinhala character ඔ read?
As “o” — it is a vowel of the “the Sinhala script” script. The usual “o” as in “more”. For example, in the word “ඔයා” — you.
What is the letter ඔ called?
O. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Sinhala script: it is called “o” and reads as “o”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.