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Sri Lan·ka (srē längkə, shrē) Formerly Cey·lon (sĭ-lŏn, sā-)
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An island country in the Indian Ocean off southeast India. Inhabited originally by the Vedda, the island was later invaded by the Sinhalese (6th century BC) and the Tamil (10th century AD). The island's lucrative spice trade was controlled from the 12th century onward by the Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, and British. Ceylon became a British colony in 1802 and achieved independence in 1948. In 1972 the island was declared a republic, adopting the Sinhalese name of Sri Lanka. A civil war between the government and Tamil separatists began in 1983 and ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil army. Colombo is the capital and the largest city.
Sri Lankan adj. & n.
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Sri Lanka
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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