Tamil script

Tamil தமிழ்
Script type	Old Tamil
Time period	c. 580 BCE – present[1][2]
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Tamil Kanikkaran Badaga Irula Paniya Saurashtra
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Tamili Tamil Brahmi Pallava script[3][4] Tamil
Sister systems	Grantha, Old Mon, Khmer, Cham, Kawi
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Taml (346), ​Tamil
Unicode
Unicode alias	Tamil
Unicode range	U+0B80–U+0BFF Tamil U+11FC0–U+11FFF Tamil Supplement
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Tamil is written in a non-Latin script. Tamil text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the ISO 15919 standard.

The Tamil script (தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி Tamiḻ ariccuvaṭi [tamiɻ ˈaɾitːɕuʋaɽi]) is an Old tamil script that is used by Tamils and Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere to write the Tamil language.^[5] It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. Certain minority languages such as Saurashtra, Badaga, Irula and Paniya are also written in the Tamil script.The analysis of carbon samples collected from the Keeladi Excavations resulted as 6th century BCE (580 BCE). Likewise, the date of Tamil-Brahmii or Dhamili script is pushed back to 6th century BCE that is a century earlier than the hitherto held view of 5th century BCE.Tamili discovered in materials such as pots used by common people. Therefore common people knew to read and write the language as early as 600 BCE. ^[6]