Tamil
Type a name in English letters, Hindi, Telugu or another script and get it in Tamil. Learn the Tamil alphabet step by step, and download a free Tamil font for Mac, Windows and the web.
1 · Your text
2 · Tamil
Read as
Text is converted sound by sound, not translated. Tamil has fewer sounds than English or Hindi, so letters like ga, ba and dha are written with the nearest Tamil letter.
Six short lessons
1 · The shape of the alphabet
The Tamil alphabet has 12 vowels (உயிர்), 18 consonants (மெய்), one special letter ஃ (ஆய்தம்), and 216 letters made by joining each consonant with each vowel (உயிர்மெய்). 12 + 18 + 1 + 216 = 247 letters.
2 · Vowels
Five short vowels அ இ உ எ ஒ, five long vowels ஆ ஈ ஊ ஏ ஓ, and two diphthongs ஐ ஔ. Short and long vowels change the meaning of a word: கால் (leg) is not கல் (stone).
3 · Consonants
The 18 consonants are in three groups. Hard: க ச ட த ப ற. Soft (nasal): ங ஞ ண ந ம ன. Medium: ய ர ல வ ழ ள. The last letter ழ is the sound that belongs to Tamil (as in தமிழ்). Each consonant carries the sound a by itself: க is ka.
4 · Vowel signs
To change the vowel, add a sign. Some go after the letter (கா கீ), some above (கி), some below (கு கூ), and some before it (கெ கே கை). The signs ொ ோ ௌ have a part on each side. You type the sign after the consonant, and the font places it correctly.
5 · Pulli: the dot
A dot (புள்ளி) on top removes the vowel: க் is just k. Words end and clusters form with dotted letters: தமிழ், அக்கா.
6 · Borrowed letters and practice
Five letters are written for sounds from Sanskrit and other languages: ஜ ஷ ஸ ஹ and the joined க்ஷ. Now write your own name in the Lab above, then try the quiz: pick the right sound for each letter.
Tamil alphabet chart
Vowels and ஃ
Consonants with every vowel
Click a cell to copy. The first column shows each consonant alone with its dot.
Semmozhi Tamil font
A free Tamil Unicode font with a thin, even pen-stroke design. It has every Tamil letter, digit and sign, and joins vowel signs to consonants automatically. Use it in Word, Pages, Google Docs, websites and design apps. It has no Latin letters, so use another font for English text.
⬇ Download all (.zip)
TTF + WOFF + WOFF2 + licence + README. Recommended.
⬇ TrueType (.ttf)
For Mac, Windows, Linux and design apps.
⬇ Web font (.woff2)
For websites.
Mac
Double-click the .ttf, then Install Font.
Windows
Right-click the .ttf, then Install.
@font-face {
font-family: "Semmozhi Tamil";
src: url("SemmozhiTamil-Regular.woff2") format("woff2"),
url("SemmozhiTamil-Regular.woff") format("woff"),
url("SemmozhiTamil-Regular.ttf") format("truetype");
font-display: swap;
}Licence
Released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1: free for personal and commercial use, you can share and change it, you cannot sell the font by itself. Copyright 2026 The Semmozhi Project Authors. Letter structures derived in part from Noto Sans Tamil, Copyright 2022 The Noto Project Authors, also under the SIL OFL 1.1.
Verification status: an automatic check compares the centre-line of each letter with the reference letters. Average agreement is 99.99%, and all 349 letters and syllables agree 99% or more, and the weakest agrees 99.4%. This checks our letters against the reference font, not against inscriptions or manuscripts, and no expert has reviewed it yet. All four Semmozhi fonts share one pen style: same stroke weight, smooth curves and tapered ends. Use it for headings, posters and learning; for long body text, a reading font such as Noto Sans Tamil is still easier on the eyes.