මූණ හෝදනවා
“මූණ හෝදනවා” (mūṇa hōdanavā) — to wash one's face in Sinhala. Verb, level A1, topic — everyday life and routine. Literally 'to wash the face' — Sinhala names what is being washed. Nānavā is washing the whole self. In a live sentence: “මම සීතල වතුරෙන් මූණ හෝදනවා” — I wash my face with cold water. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, ූ, ණ, හ, ෝ, ද, න, ව, ා.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මූණ හෝදනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | mūṇa hōdanavā |
| Translation | to wash one's face |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- මූණ හෝදනවාmūṇa hōdanavāto wash one's face
Why it looks that way
Literally 'to wash the face' — Sinhala names what is being washed. Nānavā is washing the whole self
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.
- මම සීතල වතුරෙන් මූණ හෝදනවාmama sītala vaturen mūṇa hōdanavāI wash my face with cold water
Nearby words: everyday life and routine
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
- වැඩvæḍaworkPlural in shape, 'tasks' in sense; one task is væḍak. A job as a position is another word, and 'to work' is 'do work'
- ඇහැරෙනවාæhærenavāto wake upTo wake someone else is æhæravanavā: the tail -va- makes the causative
- නැගිටිනවාnægiṭinavāto get upWaking and getting up are two different deeds and two different verbs, as in European languages
- හිසකෙස් පීරනවාhisakes pīranavāto comb one's hairLiterally 'to comb the hair'. Hisakes is 'hair'; the comb shares the same root
- රැවුල කපනවාrævula kapanavāto shaveLiterally 'to cut the beard' — the same image as 'to cut'. The languages landed on the same picture
- ඇඳුම් අඳිනවාændum andinavāto get dressedLiterally 'to put on clothes'. The nasal ňd sounds are separate Sinhala sounds
- ඇඳුම් ගලවනවාændum galavanavāto get undressedThe pair to 'get dressed': galavanavā is 'to take off'
- වාඩි වෙනවාvāḍi venavāto sit down'To sit down' is vāḍi venavā; 'to be sitting' is vāḍi velā innavā, through the lasting form
- නිදාගන්නවාnidāgannavāto go to bedBoth 'go to bed' and 'sleep'. A compound with gannavā — 'take for oneself'
- විවේක ගන්නවාvivēka gannavāto take a breakFrom vivēka, 'quiet, repose', a Sanskrit root, plus gannavā, 'take for oneself'
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “everyday life and routine”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to wash one's face” in Sinhala?
Literally 'to wash the face' — Sinhala names what is being washed. Nānavā is washing the whole self
- How do you say “to get undressed” in Sinhala?
The pair to 'get dressed': galavanavā is 'to take off'
- How do you say “to get up” in Sinhala?
Waking and getting up are two different deeds and two different verbs, as in European languages
- How do you say “to take a break” in Sinhala?
From vivēka, 'quiet, repose', a Sanskrit root, plus gannavā, 'take for oneself'
- How do you say “to get dressed” in Sinhala?
Literally 'to put on clothes'. The nasal ňd sounds are separate Sinhala sounds
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 “to wash one's face” in Sinhala?
«මූණ හෝදනවා», read “mūṇa hōdanavā”. In a live sentence: “මම සීතල වතුරෙන් මූණ හෝදනවා” — I wash my face with cold water. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “everyday life and routine”; written with the characters ම, ූ, ණ, හ, ෝ, ද, න, ව, ා.
How is “මූණ හෝදනවා” written in Latin letters?
mūṇa hōdanavā. 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 'to wash the face' — Sinhala names what is being washed. Nānavā is washing the whole self. 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.