Sri Lankan English

This page contains updates to the dictionary beginning with the letter K. It is divided into 2 parts: New Entries, and Comments and Corrections. Click here to return to the main updates page, or on the links on the left side of the page to go to another letter.

These pages are updated regularly; please contact me if you have any suggestions or feedback which can be included.

Latest update: July 2010. New additions are in red.

NEW ENTRIES:

kade paan: normal white bread from a kade (Sinhala)
They had taken a packed lunch of chicken roast, kadé paan, pol sambol and beer. (The Moon in the Water, by Ameena Hussein, page 69)

Kaffir: a member of a small community of African origin, brought to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese and still living as a distinct community mainly based in the Puttalam area
The saxophonist went under the name of Freddie Fonseka, but his flat nose and woolly hair branded him a Kaffir. The Dutch had brought them over from Africa to deploy against the island’s kings. (The Hamilton Case, by Michelle de Kretser, page 102)
> The word ‘kaffir’ is derived from the Arabic word ‘qafir’ meaning non-Muslim or non-believer. It was used for several centuries as a term for black South Africans, but in Africa is now considered a racist term. The Sri Lankan Kaffirs are Catholics and their traditional language is Portuguese Creole, which is still spoken by some elders of the community.

kaffringna: a type of baila, a popular traditional Portuguese-style dance music (Portuguese)
> The name kaffringna clearly derives from the Kaffir community, which has a rich Portuguese/African musical tradition (also called Manja). However, the word is now used more loosely to refer to a variety of baila. Alternative spellings include kaffrinja, kaffringa, kaffringha, kaffringna, and the same spellings with an extra i (kaffirinja, kaffiringa, kaffiringha, kaffiringna). It is spelt kaffrinja in The Jam Fruit Tree by Carl Muller, and kaffringa in The Sweet and Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne (see below):
The rhythm of baila and kaffringa, Latha found, was yet another of those traditions of the maritime provinces, inherited from the island’s European conquerors, that had been hidden from her by her mother’s prejudice against all things ‘Western’. … All around the room the most dignified of men and prudent of women were rocking within seconds to the energetic, compelling beat of baila and kaffringa, the men in mock-amorous pursuit, the women flashing coy, side-long glances while pretending to retreat. (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 196-7)

kahata: astringent (one of the 6 tastes described in ayurveda) (Sinhala)
> Kahata refers to the bitter taste (caused by tannin) in strong tea (especially plain tea without sugar), in herbal remedies such as kasaya, and in certain fruits such as uguressa (especially when unripe). The Sinhala word kahata is much more common than the English equivalent ‘astringent’, so kahata is also used in English-speaking contexts.

kambi: steel rods used in reinforced concrete (Sinhala/Tamil = wire)

kankun: a green leaf (orig. Malay?)
We always ate gotukola and kankun that grew wild on the riverbank. It was free. That was what we had with our rice at most times, gotukola and kankun. (Sam’s Story, by Elmo Jayawardena, page 45)
… the vegetable-hawker who had stacked her kankun and mukunuvanna miti in neatly tied bright green bundles. (Rainbows in Braille, by Elmo Jayawardena, page 111)
Finally it arrived – vegetable fried rice, cuttlefish in butter sauce, sweet and sour chicken, kankung beef, prawns in batter, and vegetable chow mein. (The Mango Tree, by Anthea Senaratna, page 96)
Or it might have been the extra strength garlic in the kang-kung. (Serendipity, by Ashok Ferrey, page 207)

karachchal: (coll.) problem, trouble (Sinhala/Tamil)
If the Minister in-charge of SLBC cannot stop the karachchal in the SLBC’s news bulletin, will the President be powerful enough to do it? (Island 02/05/06)

katta: (= shrewd, kapati) (coll.) crafty, cunning (Sinhala)

kaviya (plural kavi): poem, verse, traditional ballad (Sinhala)
“Why do I have to waste my time studying Sinhala kavi, Miss?” (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 55)
Worse, at times: he got them to read out the kavi in the Selalihini Sandheshaya, and the Guththilaya: … He knew it too well that … they weren’t the kavi type. (Stable Horses, by Vihanga Perera, page 71)
The astrologer … recollected the words of a kaviya he had once heard from his father’s lips. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 147)
“I did not know she could recite kavi so well.” (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 250)
Far away I hear the cook and Nizam singing kavi, each outdoing the other in the bawdiness of their rhyming couplets. (Serendipity, by Ashok Ferrey, page 200)

keep: to keep somebody: to put somebody up, to host somebody in your house
We had to keep her for 3 weeks.

kehel kana: a whole branch of bananas, the full crop from a single tree (Sinhala)
(Click here to see a photograph)
“Two full kana on any given day, …” (Rainbows in Braille, by Elmo Jayawardena, page 30)

kekka: a long stick or bamboo pole with a hook on the end, used for picking fruits (Sinhala)

kerosene oil: kerosene (US), paraffin (UK)

kids: children (restricted to informal colloquial contexts in BSE, but sometimes used in more formal contexts in SLE)

Kili: (coll.) Kilinochchi

knock off: knock out
… knowing very well that Stanley's small arracks were enough to knock off a horse. (July, by Karen Roberts, page 21)
“Our air force will knock them off easily.” (Arathi, by Nihal de Silva, page 128)

konde kurulla (= kondaya, bulbul): a small bird with a crest (konde) on its head (Sinhala)
It was full of birds – mynahs, sparrows, konde kurullas. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 91)
… the parrots, squirrels, konda kurullas, the koha, the shikra, the pol kitchas, the mynahs, the sunbirds, … (The Moon in the Water, by Ameena Hussein, page 229)

kudda: (coll.) drug addict (Sinhala)

kutti: monk’s cell (Sinhala)
Some of the caves are divided by brick walls to be made into kutties for monks. (Shirley Perera, in The Nature of Sri Lanka by Luxshmanan Nadaraja, page 95)

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS:

Click here to return to the main updates page, or on the links on the left side of the page to go to another letter.