Transliteration converts Tamil written in Roman letters into the Tamil script. It lets anyone type Tamil on a standard keyboard by spelling words phonetically — and the reason it is not a simple letter swap is that the two writing systems encode sound very differently.
How the script works
Tamil is an abugida: each consonant carries an inherent vowel, and a mark modifies it. க is ka; adding a vowel sign gives கா (kaa), கி (ki), கு (ku). A pulli — a dot above — removes the vowel entirely, so க் is a bare k.
The alphabet has 12 vowels, 18 consonants, and one special character (ஃ). Combining vowels with consonants produces 216 compound forms, giving 247 characters in total.
Why one Roman letter maps to several Tamil ones
Tamil does not distinguish voiced from unvoiced consonants the way English does. The sound of க varies by position — it is k at the start of a word and closer to g between vowels. The script uses one letter for both, and context tells a reader which is meant.
| Tamil | Sounds |
|---|---|
| க | k, g, h |
| ச | ch, s, j |
| த | th, dh |
| ப | p, b |
Conversely, Tamil distinguishes sounds English does not write separately — three different l sounds (ல, ள, ழ) and two n sounds. The ழ in the word Tamil itself has no English equivalent, which is why the language's name is spelled Tamil, Thamizh and Tamizh depending on who is writing.
Conventions
| Type | Approach | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Phonetic | Spell as it sounds | Everyday typing — the usual choice |
| ISO 15919 | Diacritics for exact mapping | Academic work |
| Doubled letters | zh for ழ, L for ள | Distinguishing similar sounds when typing |
Phonetic input tolerates variation, which is its strength: vanakkam, vaNakkam and vanakam all produce வணக்கம். The trade-off is that ambiguous input sometimes yields the wrong consonant, and you may need to adjust the spelling.
Practical tips
- Double a consonant where the Tamil doubles it — vanakkam, not vanakam.
- Use zh for ழ — tamizh, vazhi.
- Use capital L for ள where the tool supports it, to distinguish it from ல.
- Lengthen vowels by doubling — aa, ee, oo — since vowel length changes meaning.
That last point matters more than it sounds: vowel length is phonemic in Tamil, so a short vowel where a long one belongs produces a different word rather than an accent.
Fonts and rendering
Tamil requires a font containing the script and correct rendering support for combining marks. Missing glyphs appear as boxes; incorrect rendering shows vowel signs in the wrong order. Most modern systems handle this correctly, and Latha, Noto Sans Tamil and Nirmala UI are widely available if a font is needed.
Transliteration here runs in your browser, so nothing you type is uploaded.