Tamil

See also: tamil, támil, tàmil, and tâmil

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old Tamil 𑀢𑀫𑀺𑀵𑁰 (tamiḻ)

Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ)bor.

English Tamil

Borrowed from Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ, “Tamil”); see that entry for theories.

Pronunciation

• (original approximation) IPA^(key): /θəˈmɪɹ/, (South Asia) /t̪əˈmiɻ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtæmɪl/, /ˈtæməl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æməl
• Hyphenation: Ta‧mil

Adjective

Tamil (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the Tamil people, culture, or language.
   • 2025 August 14, Saranka Maheswaran, “Cheer up, Ice Cube, your War of the Worlds movie may be really bad, but it’s not worthless”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 August 2025:

     When I returned to the movie Ghilli, a Kollywood classic (Kollywood being the informal name for Tamil cinema) that I loved as a kid, I couldn’t help but question why the story continues romantically, without question, after the heroine is slapped by the supposed love of her life.

2. Of the Tamil script.

Derived terms

• Tamilness
• Tamlish
• Tanglish

Translations

of or pertaining to the Tamil people, culture, or language

• Arabic: تَامِيلِيّ m (tāmīliyy)
• Catalan: tàmil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泰米爾 / 泰米尔 (zh) (Tàimǐ'ěr)

• Czech: tamilský
• Danish: tamilsk
• Dutch: Tamil- (nl)
• Farefare: tamɩl
• Finnish: tamili- (fi), tamilinkielinen
• French: tamoul (fr)
• German: tamilisch
• Hindi: तमिल (hi) (tamil), तामिल (hi) (tāmil)
• Hungarian: tamil (hu)
• Italian: tamulo m, tamil (it) m or f
• Kannada: ತಮಿಳು (kn) (tamiḷu)
• Kazakh: тамил (tamıyl)
• Khmer: ទមិឡ (km) (tmɨl)
• Malay: Tamil
• Malayalam: തമിഴ് (ml) (tamiḻŭ)
• Marathi: तमिळ (mr) (tamiḷ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tamilsk

  Nynorsk: tamilsk

• Odia: ତାମିଳ (or) (tāmiḷa), ତାମିଲ (or) (tāmila)
• Polish: tamilski (pl)
• Portuguese: tâmil (pt) m or f
• Punjabi: ਤਮਿਲ਼ (pa) m or f (tamiḷ), ਤਮਿਲ (pa) m or f (tamil)
• Russian: тами́льский (ru) (tamílʹskij)
• Spanish: tamil (es)
• Swedish: tamilsk (sv)
• Tamil: தமிழ் (ta) (tamiḻ)
• Telugu: తమిళము (te) (tamiḷamu), అరవము (te) (aravamu)
• Tulu: അരവഭാഷ (aravabhāṣa), തമുളു (tamuḷu)

Proper noun

Tamil (uncountable)

1. A Dravidian language spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu, India and in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia.
   • 2023, V. V. Ganeshananthan, Brotherless Night, Viking, page 303:

     “I go only to return,” I said, because Tamil has no words for last goodbyes.

2. the Tamil script.

Translations

the language

• Arabic: لُغَة تَامِيلِيَّة f (luḡa tāmīliyya), تَامِيلِيّ m (tāmīliyy)
• Armenian: թամիլերեն (hy) (tʻamileren)
• Catalan: tàmil (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泰米爾語 / 泰米尔语 (zh) (Tàimǐ'ěr-yǔ)

• Czech: tamilština (cs) f
• Dutch: Tamil (nl) n
• Farefare: tamɩlnɛ
• Finnish: tamili (fi)
• French: tamoul (fr) m
• German: Tamilisch (de) n, Tamil (de) n
• Hebrew: טמילית
• Hindi: तमिल (hi) f (tamil), तामिल (hi) f (tāmil)
• Hungarian: tamil (hu)
• Indonesian: bahasa Tamil
• Japanese: タミル語 (ja) (タミルご, Tamiru-go)
• Kannada: ತಮಿಳು (kn) (tamiḷu)
• Khmer: ភាសាតាមីល (pʰiesaa taamiil)
• Korean: 타밀어 (ko) (Tamir-eo)
• Malagasy: tamily (mg)
• Malay: bahasa Tamil
• Malayalam: തമിഴ് (ml) (tamiḻŭ)
• Marathi: तमिळ (mr) (tamiḷ)
• Navajo: Tʼáámiil bizaad
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tamil m

  Nynorsk: tamil m

• Odia: ତାମିଳ (or) (tāmiḷa), ତାମିଲ (or) (tāmila)
• Persian: تامیل (tâmil), زبان تامیل (zabân-e tâmil)
• Polish: tamilski (pl) m
• Portuguese: tâmil (pt) m or f, tâmul m or f
• Punjabi: ਤਮਿਲ਼ (pa) m or f (tamiḷ), ਤਮਿਲ (pa) m or f (tamil)
• Russian: тами́льский язы́к m (tamílʹskij jazýk), тами́льский (ru) m (tamílʹskij), тами́л (ru) m (tamíl)
• Sinhalese: දමිළ (si) (damiḷa), දමිළ භාෂාව (damiḷa bhāṣāwa), දෙමළ (si) (demaḷa)
• Spanish: tamil (es) m
• Swedish: tamil (sv)
• Tamil: தமிழ் (ta) (tamiḻ)
• Telugu: తమిళము (te) (tamiḷamu)
• Thai: ภาษาทมิฬ (th) (paa-sǎa tá-min)
• Urdu: تامل f (tāmil)
• Vietnamese: tiếng Tamil

Noun

Tamil (plural Tamils)

1. A person who originates from Tamil Nadu, India or Sri Lanka or has Tamil origins.

Synonyms

• Tamilian

Derived terms

• Tamilakam
• Tamil Eelam
• Tamil English
• Tamilian
• Tamilism
• Tamil Nadu
• Tamiloid
• Tamil Tiger

Translations

person

• Catalan: tàmil (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泰米爾人 / 泰米尔人 (Tàimǐ'ěr-rén)

• Dutch: Tamil (nl) m
• Esperanto: tamulo (man or woman), tamulino (woman)
• Farefare: tamɩlga
• Finnish: tamili (fi)
• French: Tamoul (fr) m, Tamoule (fr) f
• German: Tamile (de) m, Tamilin (de) f
• Hindi: तमिल (hi) (tamil), तामिल (hi) (tāmil)
• Hungarian: tamil (hu)
• Indonesian: orang Tamil
• Japanese: タミル人 (ja) (タミルじん, Tamiru-jin)
• Khmer: ទមិឡ (km) (tmɨl)
• Malay: orang Tamil
• Malayalam: തമിഴൻ (ml) (tamiḻaṉ), തമിഴത്തി (tamiḻatti)
• Marathi: तमिळ (mr) (tamiḷ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tamil m

  Nynorsk: tamil m

• Odia: ତାମିଳ (or) (tāmiḷa), ତାମିଲ (or) (tāmila)
• Persian: تامیل (tâmil)
• Polish: Tamil (pl) m, Tamilka (pl) f
• Portuguese: tâmil (pt) m or f
• Punjabi: ਤਮਿਲ਼ (pa) m or f (tamiḷ), ਤਮਿਲ (pa) m or f (tamil)
• Russian: тами́л (ru) m (tamíl), тами́лка (ru) f (tamílka)
• Sinhalese: දමිළ (si) (damiḷa), දෙමළ (si) (demaḷa)
• Spanish: tamil (es)
• Tamil: தமிழன் (ta) m (tamiḻaṉ), தமிழச்சி (ta) f (tamiḻacci), தமிழர் (ta) pl (tamiḻar)
• Telugu: తమిళులు (tamiḷulu)
• Vietnamese: người Tamil

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Tamil terms

Further reading

• ISO 639-1 code ta, ISO 639-3 code tam (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Tamil, tam ⁠

Anagrams

• Talim, tilma, Limat

Dutch

Etymology

From English Tamil, Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ, “Tamil”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaː.mil/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Tamil n

1. Tamil; language spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu, India and in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia

Proper noun

Tamil m (plural Tamils, diminutive Tamiltje n)

1. Tamil; A person born in one of those regions, belonging to the Tamil people

Derived terms

• Tamilagam
• Tamiltijger

Anagrams

• mailt

Indonesian

Etymology

From Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ, “Tamil”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtamil/ [ˈt̪a.mɪl]
• Rhymes: -amil
• Syllabification: Ta‧mil

Proper noun

Tamil

1. Tamil

Further reading

• “Tamil”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Tagalog

Etymology

From Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ, “Tamil”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /taˈmil/ [t̪ɐˈmɪl]
• Rhymes: -il
• Syllabification: Ta‧mil

Proper noun

Tamíl (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜋᜒᜎ᜔)

1. Tamil