Tamil

noun

Tam·​il ˈta-məl  ˈtä- 

1

: a Dravidian language of Tamil Nadu state, India, and of northern and eastern Sri Lanka

2

: a Tamil-speaking person or a descendant of Tamil-speaking ancestors

Examples of Tamil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The film, helmed by Riteish Deshmukh (who also stars in the titular role), will simultaneously launch in the Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam languages, positioning the story of one of India’s most celebrated warriors for both local and international audiences. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 21 May 2025

War 2 will be released in Hindi, Tamil & Telugu across India. —Sara Merican, Deadline, 20 May 2025

The Hindi film industry is just one of eight major film-producing industries of India, with films being made in such other languages as Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi. —Vishal Menon, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025

Often the elaboration is clearly a product of environment—small wonder that Arabic, Farsi and Indigenous Australian languages abound with words to describe the desert, and Sanskrit, Tamil and Thai with words for elephants. —Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 9 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Tamil Tamiẓ; akin to Pali Damiḷa, a Dravidian-speaking people, Sanskrit Dravida

First Known Use

1734, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Tamil

• anthill
• backfill
• bluegill
• crossbill
• distil
• distill
• downhill
• dunghill
• foothill
• fulfil
• fulfill
• goodwill