Overview
Sinhala Unicode Converter transliterates Latin (English phonetic) input into Sinhala across any website. Enable live conversion in text boxes, run manual one-off conversions, and choose between Sinhala-specific keyboard layouts without leaving the page. Settings sync with your browser profile, so your preferences follow you everywhere.
Installation
Chrome Web Store
- Open the Chrome Web Store page for Sinhala Unicode Converter.
- Click Add to Chrome, then confirm with Add extension.
- Optional: pin the toolbar icon from the extensions menu for quick launches.
Usage
Popup translator
- Click the toolbar icon to open the popup.
- Type Latin characters in the Input box; Sinhala Unicode appears instantly in Output.
- Use Copy to place Sinhala text on the clipboard.
- Switch the transliteration scheme (Singlish or Wijesekara) from the dropdown; changes take effect immediately across every feature.
Live conversion in inputs
- Live transliteration stays disabled until you allow the current site from the popup.
- Once enabled, focus any supported input, textarea, or contentEditable element and type in Latin characters. Words convert automatically when you hit a word boundary (space, punctuation, Enter).
- The popup badge shows whether the current tab is active, blocked, or unsupported.
Context menu (right click)
- Highlight Latin text inside an editable field.
- Right-click and choose Convert to Sinhala Unicode (same as pressing ⌘ + Shift + , on macOS or Ctrl + Shift + , on Windows/Linux).
- The selection is replaced with Sinhala output in-place.
Keyboard shortcut
- Select text inside an editable element.
- Press ⌘ + Shift + , (macOS) or Ctrl + Shift + , (Windows/Linux).
- The selection is replaced with Sinhala Unicode using the active scheme, and an input event is emitted for the page.
Transliteration maps
Sinhala Unicode Converter ships with Singlish (phonetic) and
Wijesekara schemes. Combine consonants
and vowels to build full syllables—for example, ka, kaa,
ku.
Vowel Sounds
| Short | Phonetic | Long | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| අ | a | ආ | aa, a) |
| ඇ | A, /a | ඈ | Aa, A), ae, /a) |
| ඉ | i | ඊ | ii, i), ie, ee |
| උ | u | ඌ | oo, uu, u) |
| එ | e | ඒ | ea, e), ei |
| ඓ | I | ||
| ඔ | o | ඕ | oe, o) |
| ඖ | au | ||
| ඍ | \R | ඎ | \Ru |
| ඏ | \ilu | ඐ | \iluu |
Auxiliaries
Special
| ර් (rakaransha) | \r + consonant, or consonant + R |
| ්ය ligature | consonant + Y, or \y suffix |
Vowel Signs
| ෘ | consonant + ru |
| ෲ | consonant + ruu |
| ෛ | consonant + I |
| ෞ | consonant + au |
Nasal clusters
| ඬ | nnda |
| ඳ | nndha |
| ඟ | nnga |
Consonants
Common
| ක | k |
| ග | g |
| ච | ch |
| ජ | j |
| ଟ | t |
| ඩ | d |
| ත | th |
| ද | dh |
| න | n |
| ප | p |
| බ | b |
| ම | m |
| ය | y |
| ර | r |
| ල | l |
| ව | w, v |
| ස | s |
| හ | h |
| ණ | N |
| ළ | L |
Aspirated
| ඛ | kh, K |
| ඝ | gh, G |
| ඡ | Ch |
| ඨ | T |
| ඪ | D |
| ථ | Th |
| ධ | Dh |
| ඵ | ph, P |
| භ | bh |
Special
| ඹ | B |
| ශ | sh |
| ෂ | Sh |
| ෆ | f |
| ඥ | GN |
| ඤ | KN |
| ඣ | q |
| ළු | Lu |
| ළූ | Luu |
Standalone
| ං | \n |
| ඃ | \h |
| ඞ | \Na |
| ඞ් | \N |
Vowel Sounds & Consonants
The basic vowel and consonant mappings in Singlish Plus are identical to the standard Singlish scheme. Please refer to that tab for a complete reference. The key differences in Singlish Plus are the advanced typing features and special character variations outlined below.
Important: Proper rendering of advanced conjuncts (බැඳි අකුරු) and special character combinations in Sinhala depends heavily on the fonts being used on a website. If adding Sinhala text to your own site, pleasure ensure it uses a Unicode-compliant font with good Sinhala OpenType support (e.g., Noto Sans Sinhala) for optimal display.
Advanced Typing
බැඳි අකුරු - Joined Letters
Use the + key between two consonants to create joined letters.
E.g.: To type හ්ම (as in "බ්රහ්ම"), you type h+ma.
Note: Not all consonant combinations support joined letters. If a specific valid combination is missing, please let us know via email. We will then update the scheme accordingly.
Vowel Modifiers for Rakaransha
For specific combinations where the 'u' or 'uu' vowel sound is applied to the Rakaransha (්ර) itself, you can
use an underscore _. For example, to type ක්රු, you type k_ru.
Shortened Combinations
| To Get This | You Type This |
|---|---|
| ත්ථ | \thTha |
| ත්ව | \thwa |
| ක්ව | \kwa |
| ක්ෂ | \kSha |
| න්ව | \nwa |
| න්ථ | \nTha |
| න්ද | \ndha |
| න්ධ | \nDha |
| ඤ්ච | \KNcha |
| ඤ්ඡ | \KNCha |
| ඤ්ජ | \KNja |
| ට්ඨ | \tTa |
| ද්ධ | \dhDha |
| ද්ව | \dhwa or \dhva |
Special Characters
| Character | You Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ං | \o | Anusvaraya ("binduwa") Note: In Singlish Plus, this is \o instead of \n |
| ඃ | \h | Visargaya |
| ්ය (Yansaya) | \y or Y | For combinations like ක්ය |
| ර් (Rakaransha) | R or \r | For combinations like ර්ක |
| ඞ | \Na | |
| ඞ් | \N |
| Key(s) | Sinhala output | Notes |
|---|---|---|
` | ්ර | Rakaransha prefix |
~ | ර් | Répaya suffix |
w, W | අ, උ | Independent vowels |
q, Q | ු,ූ | Short/long “u” diacritics |
a | ් | Halant / virama |
s, S | ି,ී | Short/long “i” diacritics |
d, D | ා,ෘ | “aa” and vocalic “ru” |
f | ෙ | Short “e” |
g, G | ට, ඨ | Retroflex pairings |
h, j | ය, ව | Common consonants |
k, l | න, ක | Standard consonant mapping |
;, n, m | ත, බ, ප | Wijesekara consonant keys |
Y, I | ශ, ෂ | “sh” variants |
Z, X | " , ඃ | Quotes and visarga |
Type in the standard Wijesekara keyboard order—the converter mirrors the official layout for vowels, consonants, and diacritics.
Configuration options
- Per-site activation: Toggle live conversion on/off for the current hostname from the popup. Advanced rules (subdomains, registry-level, wildcards) live in the Options page.
- Transliteration scheme: Switch between Singlish and Wijesekara in the popup or Options menu. This setting drives live input, manual conversions, and shortcuts.
- Persistent domain rules: The Options page lists every domain override. Add, edit, or remove entries to control where live conversion activates automatically.
Support
Need help or want to report an issue? Email siunicodeext@sinhala.space with:
- Your browser and operating system.
- The site where you were typing.
- The transliteration scheme in use (Singlish or Wijesekara).
- Screenshots or console logs if available.
We’ll respond with troubleshooting steps or workarounds as quickly as possible.
Developers
Sinhala Unicode Converter is built by a team of two.
We gratefully acknowledge inspiration and integration of the foundational work by the below projects: