"Dhivehi" is the sole Maldivian language. In the good olden days we say "rah", or "finolhu", or "fushi" or "le" - it means an island. However today there are some few letters brought in front of these words to describe a specific island; such as Reethirah, Dhigufinolhu (a resort), Meerufenfushi (a resort), or MALE' (Capital City). Our four-fathers says; "rah" for each and every island; "finolhu" for uninhabited islands, where people goes to rest, pick coconuts, timber, wood, turtle eggs, etc, etc; "fushi" for bigger islands which are usually formed on the outside reef of the atolls; and "le" for Capital City.

"Falhu" stands for the lagoon. Falhu is in-between the reef and the beach. Each and every island of Maldives has a falhu. At times, you could see two ore more islands in a single falhu, surrounding one reef. A typical example is the ARIBEACH Resort falhu. In some islands, at low tide (usually in the evening) you could cross the falhu from the beach to get to the faru. 

"Faru" stands for the reef. Each and every island of Maldives has a faru, encircling the island. Naturally this is to protect the island from waves and storms. And these reefs has abundance of marine fauna and fishes. This is the place where non-divers (snorkelers) snorkel most of the time.

"Giri" is what we called a future island. In due course, currents bring up the sand from the reef slope and the waves gathers it, to form a rah. Giri is something the travellers are very careful about. Thus dhoani/motor boat/speed boat captain's will not travel inside the atoll at night, unless he knows all the giri's of that atoll. And these giri's has a reef formation, where divers could get abundant of marine fish and fauna from 3m onwards. Thus most of the dive-centres of the resorts has spotted quite a number of giri's, close to the resort, which they call bodu-giri, kuda-giri. Bodu means big - and Kuda means small.

"Haa" describes a sort of a well, usually close to Giri. Thus most of the pole and line fishermen, early morning goes to the haa to get their tuna baits, which are small anchovies.

"Gaa" is a coral reef formation, which may or may not become a giri. Usually you could get quiet a number of reef fish around these areas, where birds are gathered in these gaa's. At low tide these gaa's are on-top of the sea level - therefore at times, we say, it's a {Faru}.    

"Thila" is a coral reef formation, which are usually on open sea, within the atolls, and are below the surface. Again, when days pas-by a thila may became a giri, faru and a rah. A thila is a place where most night-fishing are taken place, where we could get abundance of reef fish. And these are extremely good dive-sites; such as Nassimo Thila, Okobe Thila and Miyaru Thila.

If the sea is dark blue - then we say it is "Kandu". Thus the lagoon is light blue - however the sea behind the reef is dark blue - so, we say it's Kandu. When we are on Kandu we can't see the bottom of the sea. Therefore we may say that the Kandu is the sea or the channel between the two reefs of an island. If you hear the word "Maa Kandu" - then it means the channel between the atolls. Maldivian travellers says that maa kandu will not be rough, even in the rainy season. Thus at maa kandu you will get bigger waves to sail the boat, unlike the kandu where when its rough - waves come one after the other. 

Inner Reef Slope is full of corals, where the coral bushes changes rapidly as you move down the reef. Average visibility in inner reef slope is about till 33 meters. At depths greater than 17 meters you may get currents, with extensive coral growth, which depends on the reef and the atoll formation. At times this inner reef slope is cut inside the faru, forming a cave, where light is untouched, limiting the growth of coral.

The reef flat, at times the faru could have a width ranging from few meters to few kilometers. Rain and waves are the major barriers for the growing coral son this reef flat. However species such as eel, reef fish, crustacean, tropical fish, strong corals are in abundance.