The Pulli and the Aytham: Tamil's Special Marks

Two small marks do a lot of work in Tamil.

The pulli (புள்ளி)

The pulli is a dot placed on top of a consonant to remove its inherent vowel.

• க is ka, and க் is just k.
• ம is ma, and ம் is just m.
• ல is la, and ல் is just l.

Words that end in a consonant

Tamil words often end in a pulli consonant:

Word	Romanised	Meaning
தமிழ்	thamizh	Tamil
கடல்	kadal	sea
மரம்	maram	tree
புத்தகம்	puththagam	book

Notice that தமிழ் and கடல் end in a consonant with a pulli.

Doubled consonants

When two consonants meet, the first often carries a pulli:

• பக்கம் (pakkam), side, page
• அம்மா (amma), mother
• அப்பா (appa), father
• பத்து (paththu), ten

Why the pulli matters

Without it, you would read an extra a sound. கடல் (kadal) ends with a bare l, while கடலை (kadalai) is a different word meaning groundnut.

The aytham (ஃ)

The aytham is a special character made of three dots. It is rare in everyday words. It appears in:

• அஃது (ahthu), a literary form of "that"
• loanwords such as ஃபோன் (phone), where it helps to write the f sound

Typing

On a keyboard, type the consonant first, then the pulli character. Most Tamil keyboards handle this automatically.

Tips

1. Look for the dot when reading.
2. Practise words with double consonants.
3. Use the dictionary to check spelling.

Look up any Tamil word with English Tamil Dictionary →