ආදරය
ādaraya/aːd̪ərəjə/
The Sinhala word for love is ආදරය (ādaraya).
ආදරය is used as a noun to mean 'love'. It also serves as the root for expressing the action of loving someone or something.
Meaning: strong affection (noun)
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun ආදරය becomes the verb 'to love' by adding the auxiliary verb කරනවා (to do), resulting in the phrase ආදරය කරනවා.
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is ādaraya.
Did you know?
- The root of ආදරය is actually the Sanskrit word for 'respect' or 'reverence'. In many South Asian contexts, the concept of 'love' is deeply tied to the idea of holding someone in high esteem.
- In Sri Lankan culture, expressing ආදරය to parents or elders is often done through acts of service and respect rather than saying the words aloud.
- While ආදරය is the standard word for 'love', the word අනුරාගය is used specifically for romantic or passionate love, reflecting a distinction between affection and desire.
Examples in context
- මම ඔබට ආදරය කරමි.I love you.This sentence demonstrates the use of the noun ආදරය.Tatoeba #2986385 by Matalekalum, translation #1434 by awael58
- ඇය දරුවන්ට විශාල ආදරය දක්වයි.æya daruvanta viśāla ādaraya dakvayi.She shows great love to children.
Example conversation
Kavindya and Kasun are talking about their families.
- කවින්ද්යා Kavindyaඔයාගේ පවුලේ ආදරය ගොඩක් වටිනවා.oyāgē pavulē ādaraya goḍak vaṭinavā.The love in your family is very valuable.
- කසුන් Kasunඔව්, ඒක ඇත්ත.ov, ēka ætta.Yes, that is true.
- කවින්ද්යා Kavindyaආදරය තමයි හැමදේටම වඩා වැදගත්.ādaraya tamayi hæmadēṭama vaḍā vædagat.Love is more important than everything.
- කසුන් Kasunමමත් ඒක පිළිගන්නවා.mamath ēka piḷigannavā.I agree with that too.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “love” translations and entries ආදරය, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ආදරය, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
