Ceylon

• Ceylone, Zeyloon (obsolete)

Borrowed from Portuguese Ceilão, from Old French Seilan (Marco Polo), from Persian سیلان (saylān), ultimately from Pali sīhaḷa, from Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala). Doublet of Sinhala.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɒn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /seɪˈlɑn/, /siˈlɑn/
• Rhymes: (UK) -ɒn, (US) -ɑn

Ceylon

2. (archaic, historical) Former name of Sri Lanka: an island country in South Asia [prior to 1972].
   • 2021 June 30, David Clough, “Brush: a UK rail icon”, in RAIL, number 934, page 55:

     Brush supplied shunters to industrial clients, but the first significant main line order came from the Ceylon Government Railway in 1950 for 25 diesel-electrics.

3. (very rare) A male given name transferred from the place name.
4. (computer languages) An object-oriented, strongly statically typed programming language with an emphasis on immutability.

• The country name Ceylon is generally considered archaic, having been replaced by Sri Lanka, but it is still used in some contexts; see usage notes for Sri Lanka.

Ceylon (countable and uncountable, plural Ceylons)

1. Tea produced in Sri Lanka.

• Names of Sri Lanka

• Cloyne, Conley

From English Ceylon, from Portuguese Ceilão.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsei̯lon/, [ˈs̠e̞i̯lo̞n]
• Rhymes: -eilon

Ceylon

1. (historical) Ceylon (former name of Sri Lanka: an island country in South Asia)

• Sri Lanka