හොඳ
minihā/minihaː/
The Sinhala word for good is හොඳ (minihā).
The adjective හොඳ is used to describe something as pleasant or enjoyable.
Meaning: pleasant, enjoyable (adj)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is minihā. The IPA is /minihaː/.
When do people say it?
To wish someone a good morning in a formal context, the standard phrase is සුභ උදෑසනක්.
Did you know?
- The word හොඳ is a colloquial evolution of the word for 'man' or 'human', මිනිසා, where the 's' sound shifted to an 'h'.
- Sinhala uses the word සුභ in the phrase සුභ උදෑසනක් to mean 'good', but this specific word carries a deeper connotation of 'auspicious' or 'lucky'.
- To say 'very good', Sri Lankans often add the word ගොඩක් before හොඳ, which literally translates to 'a lot' or 'a heap'.
Examples in context
- මේක හරිම හොඳ අත්දැකීමක්.meka harima hoda athdakeemak.This is a very good experience.
- අද හරිම හොඳ දවසක්.ada harima hoda dawasak.Today is a very good day.
- ඔයාගේ අලුත් චිත්රපටය හොඳයි.oyage aluth chithrapataya hodai.Your new movie is good.
Example conversation
Sanduni and Kasun are talking about a movie they just watched.
- සඳුනි Sanduniචිත්රපටය හොඳයි නේද?citrapataya hon̆dayi nēda?The movie was good, wasn't it?
- කසුන් Kasunඔව්, ඒක ඇත්තටම හොඳයි.ov, ēka ættaṭama hon̆dayi.Yes, it was really good.
- සඳුනි Sanduniසංගීතයත් ගොඩක් හොඳයි.sangītayat honda goḍak hon̆dayi.The music was also very good.
- කසුන් Kasunමටත් ඒක හිතුණා.maṭat ēka hituṇā.I thought so too.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry හොඳ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries හොඳ, CC BY-SA 4.0.
