Tamil
தமிழ் Tamiḻ
Pronunciation	[t̪amiɻ];  pronunciation (info • help)
Native to	India Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia
Ethnicity	Tamil people
Native speakers	75 million  (2011–2015) L2 speakers: 6 million
Language family	Dravidian Southern Tamil–Kannada Tamil–Kodagu Tamil–Malayalam Tamil languages Tamil
Early forms:	Old Tamil Middle Tamil Tamil
Writing system	Tamil (Brahmic) Tamil-Brahmi (historical) Grantha (historical) Vatteluttu (historical) Pallava (historical) Kolezhuthu (historical) Arwi (Abjad) Tamil Braille (Bharati) Latin script (informal)
Official status
Official language in	India: Tamil Nadu Puducherry  Sri Lanka  Singapore Organizations  ASEAN
Recognised minority language in	Malaysia  South Africa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ta
ISO 639-2	tam
ISO 639-3	Either: tam – Modern Tamil oty – Old Tamil
Linguist List	oty Old Tamil
Linguasphere	49-EBE-a
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Tamil is a Dravidian language. It is spoken in the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry states of India and parts of Sri Lanka. Many people in Singapore and Malaysia also speak it. Many people speaking Tamil live in various places around the world.