Script guide › Brahmic / Indic
Malayalam vs Sinhala
Malayalam and Sinhala sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Brahmic / Indic group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Both very round — Sinhala's curls are plumper, separate little spirals; Malayalam's run denser and more tangled.
Side by side
Malayalam
എല്ലാ മനുഷ്യരും സ്വതന്ത്രരായി തുല്യാവകാശത്തോടെ ജനിക്കുന്നു.
നമസ്കാരം, സുഖമാണോ?
മലയാളം മനോഹരമായ ഭാഷയാണ്.
Malayalam's own tells
- The curliest script in India — loops inside loops, like tangled spaghetti.
On signs in:
- India
Sinhala
සියලු මනුෂ්යයෝ නිදහස්ව උපත ලබා ඇත.
ආයුබෝවන්, ඔබට කොහොමද?
ශ්රී ලංකාව ලස්සන රටකි.
Sinhala's own tells
- Very round, plump curls with no top bar — many letters look like a letter C written forwards, backwards, or upside down.
On signs in:
- Sri Lanka