tamil
n. uncountablen. a language spoken by millions of people, mainly in southern India and Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest languages in the world that people still speak today.
n. a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the Tamil people of South Asia. It maintains official status in India, Sri Lanka, and Singapore and is noted for its extensive classical literary tradition.
She is learning to speak Tamil to talk with her grandmother.
The university offers a comprehensive course in Tamil literature, covering both ancient poetry and modern prose.
Scholars often highlight Tamil as one of the few languages that possesses a continuous classical tradition while remaining a vibrant, living tongue spoken by over seventy million people globally.
Borrowed from Tamil தமிழ் (tamiḻ, “Tamil”); see that entry for theories.
When referring to the language, it is uncountable; when referring to a member of the ethnic group, it is countable.