Meanings
- A suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Although, the name Slave Island was used during the colonial period, the name 'Kompannavidiya' was used in the languages of Sinhala and Tamil.
2023 February 3, Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama, “Slave Island changed to ’Kompannavidiya’”, in Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)1 more example
“It’s very difficult to live, even a loaf of bread is expensive,” said Pereira outside his modest home in Slave Island, a poor enclave of the capital Colombo. “If we take one meal, we skip another.”
2022 July 18, “In Sri Lanka capital’s Slave Island, shadows of a crisis”, in Al JazeeraSynonyms: Kompagngna Veediya
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Origin
From the fact that the place was used to hold African slaves by Portuguese colonizers.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Slave Island. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Slave%20Island
“Slave Island.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Slave%20Island. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Slave Island,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Slave%20Island.
Source: Slave Island on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.