Script guide › Brahmic / Indic
Sinhala vs Tamil
Sinhala and Tamil sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Brahmic / Indic group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Sinhala is plump and spiral-round; Tamil is squarer with bold angles and corners.
Side by side
Sinhala
සියලු මනුෂ්යයෝ නිදහස්ව උපත ලබා ඇත.
ආයුබෝවන්, ඔබට කොහොමද?
ශ්රී ලංකාව ලස්සන රටකි.
Sinhala's own tells
- Very round, plump curls with no top bar — many letters look like a letter C written forwards, backwards, or upside down.
On signs in:
- Sri Lanka
Tamil
மனிதப் பிறவியினர் அனைவரும் சுதந்திரமாகவே பிறக்கின்றனர்.
வணக்கம், எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்?
தமிழ் ஒரு அழகான மொழி.
Tamil's own tells
- Chunky, squarish-round letters with strong angles — ற, க and ம are distinctive.
- Fewer curly loops than Malayalam, no top bar.
On signs in:
- India
- Sri Lanka
- Singapore
- Malaysia