ScriptLookup

Sinhala

සිංහල
si 17M speakers

Sinhala (සිංහල) is a Indo-European language with approximately 17M speakers speakers. It is written using the Sinhala script. Its BCP 47 language code is si.

Sinhala (සිංහල) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in Sri Lanka by the Sinhalese people, who constitute approximately 75% of Sri Lanka's population. It is one of the two official languages of Sri Lanka (alongside Tamil).

Sinhala is written in the Sinhala script, an abugida derived from the Brahmi script through the ancient Kadamba script. The script's round letterforms are among the most visually distinctive in South Asia. Sinhala has two major registers: the literary/written form (Sudda Sinhala) and the colloquial spoken form.

Writing Systems Used for Sinhala

Sinhala
සිංහල
Primary
ආයුබෝවන්
LTR Sinh

Frequently Asked Questions

What alphabet or script does Sinhala use?
Sinhala is written using the Sinhala script (ISO 15924 code: Sinh). Sinhala is written left-to-right.
What direction is Sinhala written?
Sinhala is written Left-to-right. Text runs from left to right, the same direction as most European languages.
How many people speak Sinhala?
Sinhala has approximately 17M speakers speakers worldwide. It is a member of the Indo-European language family.
What language family does Sinhala belong to?
Sinhala belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is written with the Sinhala script.
What is the language code for Sinhala?
The BCP 47 language code for Sinhala is "si". This code is used in software, web standards (the HTML lang attribute), and internationalization contexts.

Language Facts

BCP 47 Code
si
ISO 639-3
sin
Status
living
Speakers
17M speakers
Language Family
Indo-European
Scripts
1
Primary Script
Sinhala

Other Sinhala Languages

None found.

Data sourced from Unicode CLDR and ISO 639-3. Last updated April 20, 2026.