Sri Lanka

/ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/

//ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə// name

"sri-lanka" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Sri Lanka” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An island and country in South Asia, off the coast of India. Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Capital: Colombo.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sri-lanka · Sri Lanka · English

Sri Lanka · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for Sri Lanka
PropertyValue
HeadwordSri Lanka
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Sri Lanka” in English

Sri Lankafalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Sri Lanka is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An island and country in South Asia, off the coast of India. Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Capital: Colombo.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Sri Lanka, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Sinhalese ශ්රී ලංකා (śrī laṁkā) / ශ්රී ලංකාව (śrī laṁkāwa), from Sanskrit श्री लङ्का (śrī laṅkā, literally “holy Lanka”). The correct English form is Sri Lanka, spelled S-R-I- -L-A-N-K-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    An island and country in South Asia, off the coast of India. Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Capital: Colombo.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how Sri Lanka appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Sri Lanka has asked the IMO to classify plastic pellets as toxic substances, and Vanuatu is calling for better reporting of containers lost at sea.

Etymology

Borrowed from Sinhalese ශ්රී ලංකා (śrī laṁkā) / ශ්රී ලංකාව (śrī laṁkāwa), from Sanskrit श्री लङ्का (śrī laṅkā, literally “holy Lanka”).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Sri Lanka"?
"Sri Lanka" is spelled S-R-I- -L-A-N-K-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/.
What does "Sri Lanka" mean?
As a proper noun, "Sri Lanka" means: An island and country in South Asia, off the coast of India. Official name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Capital: Colombo.
How do you pronounce "Sri Lanka"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Sri Lanka" is /ʃɹiˈlɑːŋkə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Sri Lanka"?
Borrowed from Sinhalese ශ්රී ලංකා (śrī laṁkā) / ශ්රී ලංකාව (śrī laṁkāwa), from Sanskrit श्री लङ्का (śrī laṅkā, literally “holy Lanka”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list