Elu

E1L1U1
/ˈ(h)ɛluː/

proper noun

the ancestral form of Sinhalese, the Sinhala language, a Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit of the 3rd century BCE.

OriginSinhalese එළු ← Prakrit 𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮 ← Sanskrit सिंहल →
UncommonScrabble 3
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Hela · alternative Helu

  1. the ancestral form of Sinhalese, the Sinhala language, a Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit of the 3rd century BCE.

Origin

  1. Sanskritसिंहल
  2. Prakrit𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮
  3. Sinhaleseඑළු
  4. EnglishElu

Borrowed from Sinhalese එළු (eḷu), හෙළු (heḷu), from Prakrit 𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮 (sīhala) (compare Pali sīhala), from Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala, literally “lionlike”), from सिंह (siṃha, “lion”) + -ल (-la). Doublet of Ceylon and Sinhala.

More words from Sinhalese, Prakrit, Sanskrit

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

leulueuleUEL
Cite this entry
APA

Elu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Elu

MLA

“Elu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Elu. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Elu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Elu.

Source: Elu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.