DSAL Dictionary
The DSAL Tamil Lexicon can be found online at: https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/tamil-lex/
It’s straightforward to use.
Crea Dictionary
The Crea dictionary can be found online at: https://www.crea.in/
How to use the Dictionary:
To look up a Tamil word on Crea dictionary you need to be able to look up its imperative / root.
Next to the imperative / root, the dictionary tells you whether the term is:
1. வினைச்சொல் – a verb
2. பெயர்ச்சொல் – a noun
3. வினையடை – a verb qualifier; adverb
4. பெயரடை – a noun qualifier; adjective; attributive
5. இடைச்சொல் – a part of speech in Tamil; includes all those which have grammatical and syntactic function (but not lexical meaning) – e.g. case markers, tense markers, conditional suffix, sentence connectors; functional word.
6. துணை வினை – auxiliary verb
Verbs (வினைச்சொல்) will be followed by brackets in which there will be two items. The first item is the infinitive form of the verb, and then second item is the adverbial participle (AVP) of the verb.
For example:
வாங்கு வினைச்சொல் (வாங்க, வாங்கி)
- வாங்கு is the verb root or imperative form
- வினைச்சொல் indicates that வாங்கு is a verb
- வாங்க is the infinitive form of the verb வாங்கு and translates as: to buy
- வாங்கி is the past participle of the verb வாங்கு and translates as: (having) bought.