මහනුවර
“මහනුවර” (mahanuvara) — Kandy in Sinhala. Noun, level A1. 'Kandy' is the European mangling of 'Kanda Udarata', 'the land on the hill'. In a live sentence: “මහනුවර යනවා” — He is going to Kandy. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, හ, න, ු, ව, ර. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මහනුවර |
| Read in Latin letters | mahanuvara |
| Translation | Kandy |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- මහනුවරmahanuvaraKandy
What it is
A city in the hills by a lake, the last capital of an independent kingdom, which fell only in 1815. The relic — the Buddha's tooth — is kept here, and the August perahera sets out from here. The Sinhala name means 'the great city'.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
'Kandy' is the European mangling of 'Kanda Udarata', 'the land on the hill'
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.
- මහනුවර යනවාmahanuvara yanavāHe is going to Kandy
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 “Kandy” in Sinhala?
«මහනුවර», read “mahanuvara”. In a live sentence: “මහනුවර යනවා” — He is going to Kandy. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ම, හ, න, ු, ව, ර.
How is “මහනුවර” written in Latin letters?
mahanuvara. 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?
'Kandy' is the European mangling of 'Kanda Udarata', 'the land on the hill'. 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.