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Ved·da also Ved·dah

(vĕdə)

n. pl. Vedda or Ved·das also Veddah or Ved·dahs

A member of the earliest people of Sri Lanka, originally forest-dwelling hunters but now almost completely assimilated into the modern Sinhalese population.

[Sinhalese vädda, perhaps from Middle Indic vajjita-, excluded, from Sanskrit varjita-, past passive participle of varjayati, he avoids, shuns, causative of vṛṇakti, he bends, turns.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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