Lingoflyපාන් හදන කෙනා
- පාන් හදන කෙනාpān hadana kenābaker
“පාන් හදන කෙනා” (pān hadana kenā) — baker in Sinhala. Noun, level B1. Literally 'the one who makes bread': no single word exists, and the description is the usual Sinhala way. In town they also say 'the person from the bakery'. In a live sentence: “පාන් හදන කෙනා උදේ තුනට වැඩ පටන් ගන්නවා” (pān hadana kenā udē tunaṭa væḍa paṭan gannavā) — The baker starts work at three in the morning. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | පාන් හදන කෙනා (pān hadana kenā) |
| Read in Latin letters | pān hadana kenā |
| Translation | baker |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'the one who makes bread': no single word exists, and the description is the usual Sinhala way. In town they also say 'the person from the bakery'
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.
- pān hadana kenā udē tunaṭa væḍa paṭan gannavāThe baker starts work at three in the morning
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 “baker” in Sinhala?
«පාන් හදන කෙනා» (pān hadana kenā), read “pān hadana kenā”. In a live sentence: “පාන් හදන කෙනා උදේ තුනට වැඩ පටන් ගන්නවා” (pān hadana kenā udē tunaṭa væḍa paṭan gannavā) — The baker starts work at three in the morning. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ප, ා, න, ්, හ, ද, න, ක, ෙ, න, ා.
How is “පාන් හදන කෙනා” (pān hadana kenā) written in Latin letters?
pān hadana kenā. 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 'the one who makes bread': no single word exists, and the description is the usual Sinhala way. In town they also say 'the person from the bakery'. 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 this 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.