Most of the Sinhala letters are curlicues straight lines are almost completely absent from the alphabet, and it does not have joining characters. To represent different sounds it is necessary to add vowel strokes, or diacritics called පිලි Pili, that can be used before, after, above or below the base-consonant. It uses consonants as the basic unit for word construction as each consonant has an inherent vowel ( /a/), which can be changed with a different vowel stroke. Sinhala script is an abugida written from left to right. This marker suppresses the inherent vowel. In order to produce such a pure consonant, a special marker, the hal kirīma has to be added: ක්. It is also possible to have no vowel following a consonant. For 'ki', a small arch called ispilla is placed over the ක: කි. The basic form of the letter k is ක 'ka'. Sinhala is the main language written in this script, but rare instances of Sri Lanka Malay are recorded. Today, the alphabet is used by over 16 million people to write Sinhala in very diverse contexts, such as newspapers, TV commercials, government announcements, graffiti, and schoolbooks. The high contrast style is still preferred for text typesetting in printed newspapers, books and magazines in Sri Lanka. This high contrast type gradually replaced the monolinear type as the preferred style which continues to be used in the present day. During the second half of the 19th century, during the Colonial period, a new style of Sinhala letterforms emerged in opposition to the monolinear and geometric form being high contrast in appearance and having varied thicknesses. The Dutch created type was monolinear and geometric in fashion with no separation between words in early documents.

The resulting type followed the features of that of the native Sinhala script practiced on palm leaves. In 1736 the Dutch were the first to print with Sinhala type on the island.

Modern Sinhalese emerged in the 13th century and is marked by the composition of the grammar book Sidat Sangara. For instance, the Buddhist literature of the Theravada- Buddhists of Sri Lanka, written in Pali, used Sinhala script. By the 9th century CE, literature written in Sinhala script had emerged and the script began to be used in other contexts. Subsequently, Medieval (and modern) Sinhalese resemble the South Indian scripts. Medieval Sinhalese, which emerged around 750 AD, is marked by very strong influence from the Grantha script. Pottery from the 6th century BCE has been found in Anuradhapura, with lithic inscriptions dating from 2nd century BCE written in Prakrit. Sinhala script developed in a complex manner, part independent but also strongly influenced by South Indian scripts at various stages, manifestly influenced by the early Grantha script.

Sinhala script is a Brahmi derivate, and was imported from Northern India, around the 3rd century BCE.

Sinhala hodiya new