When there is no word: a description instead of a term
The backbone warns about this unit outright: 'packaging', 'waybill', 'work shift', 'acceptance', 'timber', 'building site' do not exist in every household practice, and in Lanka half of them are simply not named with one word. This is not a gap in the dictionary but a difference in how the work is arranged, and one must not lie about it. For example: “අඩක් හදපු කැබැල්ල මැෂිමට දාන්න” — Put the blank into the machine.…
How it works
The backbone warns about this unit outright: 'packaging', 'waybill', 'work shift', 'acceptance', 'timber', 'building site' do not exist in every household practice, and in Lanka half of them are simply not named with one word. This is not a gap in the dictionary but a difference in how the work is arranged, and one must not lie about it.
What is described by a turn, and why.
සැපයුම් කාලය (the delivery time) — the words exist, the compound is ordinary. But පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන් කාලය (the service life) is already a whole clause: 'the time during which one can use it'. There is no shorter way.
අඩක් හදපු කැබැල්ල (a blank) — 'a half-made piece'. The English word presupposes a shop where the blank is made separately from the product; in a Lankan workshop this stage often does not exist at all, and the word was never needed.
වැඩ නැවතිලා තියෙන එක (downtime) — 'that the work stands still'. The trick with එක (eka) turns a whole phrase into a name, and this is the commonest way for Sinhala to get by without a term.
මාරු ක්රමය (a work tour) — 'the shift order'. The English shift with a camp and a fly-in is not found in Lanka; the word covers a long tour of duty away from home — on a ship, on a plantation, on a site. The sense is broader than the English one, and the card says so.
ලී කණුව (a wooden post) — 'a wooden post'. They build of brick and concrete; wood goes to rafters, and there is no separate word for a squared beam.
The trick with එක is worth learning separately. It makes a name out of anything: ගස් වවන එක (landscaping), වැඩ නැවතිලා තියෙන එක (downtime), ආපහු පාවිච්චි කරන ද්රව්ය (recyclables). The literary language puts -ීම in its place: ගබඩා කිරීම (storage), සලකුණු කිරීම (marking), බාරගැනීම (acceptance). One and the same thing is said in two registers, and one chooses by the listener.
Table
| The word | In Sinhala | Word for word | Why so |
|---|---|---|---|
| packaging | ඇසුරුම | a wrapping | the word is broader: both packaging and wrapping |
| a waybill | බඩු ලේඛනය | an inventory of goods | no form with such a name exists |
| a work tour | මාරු ක්රමය | the shift order | no camp-and-fly shifts on the island |
| acceptance | බාරගැනීම | taking under responsibility | the same word about a parcel |
| a timber beam | ලී කණුව | a wooden post | they build of brick, not of beams |
| a blank | අඩක් හදපු කැබැල්ල | a half-ready piece | the stage is often absent |
| downtime | වැඩ නැවතිලා තියෙන එක | that the work stands | the trick with එක instead of a term |
| a service life | පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන් කාලය | the time one can use it | there is no shorter way |
By example
- අඩක් හදපු කැබැල්ල මැෂිමට දාන්නaḍak hadapu kæbælla mæṣimaṭa dānnaPut the blank into the machine
- එයා නැවේ මාරු ක්රමයට වැඩ කරනවාeyā nævē māru kramayaṭa væḍa karanavāHe works on a ship in tours
- වැඩ නැවතිලා තියෙන එක දවස් තුනක් වුණාvæḍa nævatilā tiyena eka davas tunak vuṇāThe downtime in the work has lasted three days
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
When there is no word: how does it work in Sinhala?
The backbone warns about this unit outright: 'packaging', 'waybill', 'work shift', 'acceptance', 'timber', 'building site' do not exist in every household practice, and in Lanka half of them are simply not named with one word. This is not a gap in the dictionary but a difference in how the work is…
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“අඩක් හදපු කැබැල්ල මැෂිමට දාන්න” (aḍak hadapu kæbælla mæṣimaṭa dānna) — Put the blank into the machine. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.