ඝනකම වැඩි
“ඝනකම වැඩි” (ghanakama væḍi) — dense in Sinhala. Adjective, level B1. gha-na-ka-ma væ-di; the gh is a breathy g. In a live sentence: “මේ රෙද්ද ඝනකම වැඩි නිසා අව්ව එහාට එන්නේ නෑ” — This fabric is dense, so the sun doesn't pass through it. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ඝ, න, ක, ම, ව, ැ, ඩ, ි. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ඝනකම වැඩි |
| Read in Latin letters | ghanakama væḍi |
| Translation | dense |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | B1 |
- ඝනකම වැඩිghanakama væḍidense
How to pronounce it
gha-na-ka-ma væ-di; the gh is a breathy g
Why it looks that way
Literally 'whose density is greater': dense cloth, a dense crowd, dense wood. The familiar 'tight' the course keeps for 'firm', and it's not taken for density
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- මේ රෙද්ද ඝනකම වැඩි නිසා අව්ව එහාට එන්නේ නෑmē redda ghanakama væḍi nisā avva ehāṭa ennē nǣThis fabric is dense, so the sun doesn't pass through it
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “dense” in Sinhala?
«ඝනකම වැඩි», read “ghanakama væḍi”. gha-na-ka-ma væ-di; the gh is a breathy g. In a live sentence: “මේ රෙද්ද ඝනකම වැඩි නිසා අව්ව එහාට එන්නේ නෑ” — This fabric is dense, so the sun doesn't pass through it. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adjective, level B1; written with the characters ඝ, න, ක, ම, ව, ැ, ඩ, ි.
How is “ඝනකම වැඩි” written in Latin letters?
ghanakama væḍi. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'whose density is greater': dense cloth, a dense crowd, dense wood. The familiar 'tight' the course keeps for 'firm', and it's not taken for density. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.