තැඹිලි
“තැඹිලි” (tæmbili) — king coconut (thambili) in Sinhala. Noun, level A1, topic — food and drink. It differs from the green coconut by the colour and taste of the water: thambili is sweeter. In a live sentence: “තැඹිලි ගෙඩියක්” — One king coconut, please. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ත, ැ, ඹ, ි, ල, ි. One of 203 words in the set “food and drink” in the Sinhala course.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | තැඹිලි |
| Read in Latin letters | tæmbili |
| Translation | king coconut (thambili) |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- තැඹිලිtæmbiliking coconut (thambili)
What it is
The king coconut — orange, with a thin shell and plenty of sweetish water. Sold by the road: the top is lopped off with a cleaver and a straw is stuck in. There is almost no flesh inside.
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
It differs from the green coconut by the colour and taste of the water: thambili is sweeter
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.
- තැඹිලි ගෙඩියක්tæmbili geḍiyakOne king coconut, please
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- වතුරvaturawaterDrinking water is bona vatura, boiled water is thambapu vatura — on the island you ask that way, not for 'just water'. The bookish jala sits on utility bills
- තේtēteaThe country's main word: Ceylon tea is this very tē. When ordering you specify kiri tē, with milk, or plēn tē, plain
- කෝපිkōpicoffeeA long ō in the first syllable: 'koo-pi', not 'kopi'. The island runs on tea, and coffee in a roadside shop is almost always instant
- කිරිkirimilkLives in kiri tē, 'tea with milk', and in kiribath, the festive rice cooked in coconut milk. Fresh cow's milk is rare at home: more often it's powdered, kiri piṭi
- බත්batriceBoth 'rice' and 'a meal' in general: bat kanavā means 'to have a meal', whatever is being served
- මාළුmāḷufishA long mā and the 'heavy' ḷ: maa-ḷa. Don't confuse it with mala, 'a flower'. Fish curry, māḷu kari, is the coast's main dish
- පාන්pānbreadA Portuguese inheritance: pão stayed in the language together with the loaf itself
- බිත්තරbittaraeggOne shape for one egg and for a dozen; the number does the counting: bittara dekak. Hold the doubled tt long, or it will sound like bitara
- එළවළුeḷavaḷuvegetablesPlural by its very nature — you can't say 'one vegetable'. Two 'heavy' ḷ sounds in a row make it one of the hardest spellings in the course
- පොල්polcoconutGrated coconut goes into almost every dish; pol sambōla is what they'll serve with your rice
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “king coconut (thambili)” in Sinhala?
It differs from the green coconut by the colour and taste of the water: thambili is sweeter
- How do you say “bread” in Sinhala?
A Portuguese inheritance: pão stayed in the language together with the loaf itself
- How do you say “coffee” in Sinhala?
A long ō in the first syllable: 'koo-pi', not 'kopi'. The island runs on tea, and coffee in a roadside shop is almost always instant
- How do you say “coconut” in Sinhala?
Grated coconut goes into almost every dish; pol sambōla is what they'll serve with your rice
- How do you say “fish” in Sinhala?
A long mā and the 'heavy' ḷ: maa-ḷa. Don't confuse it with mala, 'a flower'. Fish curry, māḷu kari, is the coast's main dish
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 “king coconut (thambili)” in Sinhala?
«තැඹිලි», read “tæmbili”. In a live sentence: “තැඹිලි ගෙඩියක්” — One king coconut, please. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters ත, ැ, ඹ, ි, ල, ි.
How is “තැඹිලි” written in Latin letters?
tæmbili. 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?
It differs from the green coconut by the colour and taste of the water: thambili is sweeter. 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.