TAMIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Tamil mean? 

• TAMIL (noun)
  The noun TAMIL has 2 senses:

1. a member of the mixed Dravidian and Caucasian people of southern India and Sri Lanka

2. the Dravidian language spoken since prehistoric times by the Tamil in southern India and Sri Lanka

  Familiarity information: TAMIL used as a noun is rare.

• TAMIL (adjective)
  The adjective TAMIL has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to a speaker of the Tamil language or the language itself

  Familiarity information: TAMIL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAMIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A member of the mixed Dravidian and Caucasian people of southern India and Sri Lanka

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Tamil" is a kind of...):

Dravidian (a member of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of India)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The Dravidian language spoken since prehistoric times by the Tamil in southern India and Sri Lanka

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Tamil" is a kind of...):

South Dravidian (a Dravidian language spoken primarily in southern India)

• TAMIL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to a speaker of the Tamil language or the language itself

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Tamil agglutinative phrases

Pertainym:

Tamil (the Dravidian language spoken since prehistoric times by the Tamil in southern India and Sri Lanka)

Tamil (a member of the mixed Dravidian and Caucasian people of southern India and Sri Lanka)

 Context examples 

Eminent herpetologist and co-author of the study Romulus Whitaker from the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology, Tamil Nadu state, tells that India needs either region-specific antivenom or antivenom made with venoms pooled from different regions and from the species not yet used in antivenom production.”

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)