Lingoflyඬ — sanyaka-da-yanna
«sanyaka-da-yanna» is a consonant of the Sinhala script, read as “ndda”. Half-nasal hard “nd” in one syllable. The Sinhala alphabet has 59 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “අඬනවා” (aňḍanavā) — to cry.
In short
| Character | ඬ |
| Name | sanyaka-da-yanna |
| Sound | ndda |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 37th of 76: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ණ and ත, appears in 12 words of this site.
How to type ඬ
- On a phone: add the Sinhala keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0DAC and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0DAC.
- Unicode code point: U+0DAC. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Half-nasal hard “nd” in one syllable
The character in the “five half-nasal letters — a mark of sinhala” group
One letter for a nasal shade plus a consonant: ඟ, ඦ, ඬ, ඳ, ඹ. Sanskrit has nothing of the kind, nor do the neighboring Tamils — this is what makes Sinhala Sinhala.
Words with this character
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, 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 — 59 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 ඬ read?
As “ndda” — it is a consonant of the Sinhala script. Half-nasal hard “nd” in one syllable.
What is the letter ඬ called?
Sanyaka-da-yanna. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Sinhala script: it is called “sanyaka-da-yanna” and reads as “ndda”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.