ආච්චි
aachchi
The Sinhala word for grandma is ආච්චි (aachchi).
ආච්චි is used for both maternal and paternal grandmothers.
Meaning: grandmother (informal) (noun)
Which one should you use?
While ආච්චි is the common term, more formal or respectful terms for grandmother exist in specific social contexts, though ආච්චි remains widely used in families.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
ආච්චි is the common, informal way to address or refer to a grandmother, similar to 'grandma' or 'granny'.
How do you pronounce it?
aachchi
Did you know?
- In Sri Lanka, ආච්චි is often used as a term of endearment or respect for any elderly woman, even if she is not a blood relative.
- While ආච්චි is the standard term, some families use the word අත්තම්ම for grandmother, which is influenced by Tamil language patterns in certain regions.
- In traditional Sri Lankan households, the ආච්චි often holds the primary role of the storyteller, passing down oral folk tales known as ජනකතා to grandchildren.
Examples in context
- ආච්චි එන්න.ācchi enna.Grandma, come here.
- මගේ ආච්චි හරිම කරුණාවන්තයි.magē ācchi harima karuṇāvantai.My grandma is very kind.
- ආච්චි මොනවද කරන්නේ?ācchi monavada karannē?What is grandma doing?
Example conversation
Kavindya and Nupun are talking about their family.
- කවින්ද්යා Kavindyaනුපුන්, ඔයාගේ ආච්චි කොහොමද?Nupun, oyage achchi kohomada?Nupun, how is your grandma?
- නුපුන් Nupunඇය දැන් ගොඩක් හොඳින් ඉන්නවා.Aya dűn godak hondin innawű.She is doing very well now.
- කවින්ද්යා Kavindyaමගේ ආච්චිත් ඊයේ ආවා.Mage achchith iyű űvű.My grandma also came yesterday.
- නුපුන් Nupunඒක ගොඩක් සන්තෝෂයි.Eka godak santhoshayi.That is very happy news.
