The Tamil script is an abugida with a famously regular structure: a small set of vowels and consonants combine to produce the full character inventory. This free reference lays out all 247 letters — the 12 uyir vowels, the 18 mei consonants, the 216 uyirmei combinations, and the aytam — with romanization, search, and click-to-copy.
How it works
The grid is built programmatically. Each of the 18 consonant rows is paired with each of the 12 vowel columns:
- The first column is the inherent-vowel form, the bare consonant
க(readka), because the inherent vowelஅneeds no sign. - The remaining eleven columns attach a dependent vowel sign, producing
கா,கி,கீ, and so on. - A separate first cell on each row shows the pure consonant, or mei, written with the pulli
், such asக்.
Adding it up: 12 standalone vowels, plus 18 pure consonants, plus the 18 × 12 = 216 uyirmei, plus the single aytam ஃ, gives the classic total of 247.
Tips and notes
Use the filter box to jump to a syllable by its romanized form; typing ṭ or t narrows the grid to the relevant rows and highlights matches, which is useful for learners practising a particular consonant series. Click any glyph to copy it, so you can paste characters into documents even without a Tamil keyboard.
The regularity of the grid is what makes Tamil literacy fast to bootstrap: once you know the 18 consonants and 12 vowels and how the vowel signs attach, you can read and write any of the 216 uyirmei without memorising each as a separate symbol.