Tamil
[tam-uh l, tuhm-, tah-muh l]
- a member of a people of Dravidian stock of S India and Sri Lanka.
- the Dravidian language of the Tamils, spoken in India principally in Tamil Nadu state and in Sri Lanka on the N and E coasts.
- of or relating to the Tamils or their language.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tamil
Contemporary Examples
Prabhakaran had come to personify the movement, and his end, so wretched, became the emblem of Tamil defeat and Sinhalese triumph.
The former Tamil bastions in the north and east continue to be exposed to arbitrary violence by Sri Lankan authorities.
Earlier this year, I spoke to a Sri Lankan lawyer who has helped Tamil families flee the island.
Months after the Kumbakonam tragedy, a far greater one slammed into the Tamil Nadu coast: the tsunami of December 2004.
Following the Kumbakonam deaths, the Tamil Nadu government banned thatched roofs, and the schools were now building concrete ones.
Historical Examples
This is her Tamil name, given because it describes her as she struck the Tamil mind.
Things as They AreAmy Wilson-Carmichael
The names employed in the Hebrew text of the Bible are said to be Tamil.
India: What can it teach us?F. Max Mller
There is a Tamil proverb to the effect that a Kallan may come to be a Maravan.
Castes and Tribes of Southern IndiaEdgar Thurston
He then asks (in Tamil) for the pot containing the head, and for the toddy.
Castes and Tribes of Southern IndiaEdgar Thurston
The Tamil caste provides, or has adopted all the dancing-girls in the district.
Castes and Tribes of Southern IndiaEdgar Thurston
Tamil
- plural -ils or -il a member of a mixed Dravidian and Caucasoid people of S India and Sri Lanka
- the language of this people: the state language of Tamil Nadu, also spoken in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, belonging to the Dravidian family of languages
- of or relating to this people or their language
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tamil
Tamil
Dravidian people and language of southern India, 1734, from Pali Damila, from Sanskrit Dramila, variant of Dravida (see Dravidian).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper