The Cebuano/Bisaya word sinaw means “shiny”. It is used as an adjective by native Cebuano speakers across Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and much of Mindanao. This page covers what sinaw means in Bisaya, how to pronounce it correctly, how to use it in a sentence, and related words in the same category.
Bisaya word
sinaw
English meaning
shiny
Part of speech
Adjective
In Bisaya (Cebuano), sinaw translates to “shiny”.
As an adjective in the Adjectives category, “sinaw” is part of the core Bisaya vocabulary that learners encounter early on. Native speakers use it across all registers — casual home conversations in Cebu, busy marketplaces in Bohol, and everyday interactions throughout the Visayas and Mindanao.
Bisaya adjectives like "sinaw" (shiny) typically come before the noun they describe, similar to English. You can intensify them using "kaayo" — for example, "sinaw kaayo" means "very shiny". Negation is done with "dili" (not) or "wala" depending on context. Mastering descriptive adjectives like "sinaw" is one of the quickest ways to make your Bisaya sentences richer and more expressive.
Sinaw kaayo ug sakyanan ang kanang tawhana.
The car of that guy is very shiny.
Expand your vocabulary by learning other Bisaya adjectives in the same category as “sinaw”.
Meaning shortened and example sentence adapted from Wiktionary, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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