Sri Lankan Tamil slang

• Enna elavu - Literal meaning What death (ceremony), usually used to describe an unknown and non-understandable situation. Enna Elavo theriyaathu means What death, I don’t know.

• Enna kothari - Meaning same as enna ellavu but true meaning of Kothari unknown. Kauthari is a bird usually seen in the night.

• Enna savam Meaning same as enna ellavu. Savam means a dead body.

• Alukkosu - Origin unknown but generally to denote a condition of assumed stupidity of the person being called as such

• Visar - Means gone mad to describe a person. Visar manisan or mad man can be used by a wife to denote a husband in a mild reproaching manner.

• Visar attam - Means dance induced by madness to describe an action of a person who is not rational to the user.

• Payithiyam* - Means a mad person.

• Thalai thattina kesu* - Compound Tamil-English word. Thalai means head. Thattina means knocked for mad and kesu is from English case for a patient.

• Moothevi - A Hindu terminology based on a goddess of bad luck. Usually used by mothers to scold their children.

• Naasam aruppu - Means destruction or destroyed to describe an event or situation that is looks defintely destructive to the user.

• Thadithchi* - Lit. meaning a fat woman can be used to describe any woman who is alleged to be uppitty and unrepentant to the user.

• Thadiyan* - Lit. meaning a fat man can be used to describe any man who is alleged to be uppity and unrepentant to the user.
• Naye* - Derived from the Tamil word for a dog, can be used as a combined word such as paranaye or sakkilinaye as a pejorative. Sorinaye* means a dog that has a skin problem.

• Madaiyan* - Lit. meaning stupid.

• Muttal* - Lit. meaning stupid.

• Vengayam* - Lit. meaning onion to denote there nothing inside the denoted persons brain. Stupid is the closest meaning. Uricha vengayam* means scale removed onion to denote a person who is stupider.

• Thevangu - Derived from Tamil name of an animal Loris which hangs upside down to denote a persons stupidity.

• Loos* - Means a stupid person, derived from English loose screw in ones head.

• Konangi - Origin unknown, means a stupid person.Joker

• Paradesi - Lit. mean foreigner. Used to denote a not-liked person. Panchapparadesi Literally a starving foreigner to denote a highly not liked person.

• Nappi - Lit. meaning stingy person can be used as Nappi doosu and Nappi pandaram.

• Kallabaduva* - Kalla means a thief. Baduva meaning unknown, can be derived from Vaduga for Telugu person. Used also by adults for children as a term of endearment.

• Kallarascal* - Another compound English- Tamil term. Means a thieving trouble maker.

• Ponnaya or Ponce' - For a male who behaves like a female also used amongst the Sinhalese.

• Maramandai* - For a thick skulled person or a person who doesn't care about insults or is not smart.

• Saniyan* - Derived from the Hindu astrological term for planet Saturn which is considered to be very hostile to the well being of people. Used by mothers to scold their children.

• Mundam* - Lit. meaning headless corpse for stupid person.

• Solaavaari - Meaning unknown used for a person trying get ahead without waiting his/her turn.

• Sampirani - Derived from item used in Hindu rituals which burns up after use. Someone who is useless.

• Kannadi polanga - One of the rare Tamil-Sinhalese compound swear words. To ridicule a person wearing specktacles or glasses. Kannadi means glass and polanga is potentially from Sinhalese for a snake. Used exclusively in Colombo area.

• Attam* - Lit. meaning dance, for a person who is a show off.

• Andavane* - Similar to exclamation Oh god

• Appanne* - Same as above but means Oh father

• Isaku pisaku* - Something out of the ordinary usually related to censored behaviour.

• Karaicchal - Means problem

• Kilu kiluppu* - Means titillation, both sexual and asexual context.

• Siva perumane* - A word derived from Shiva a popular Hindu deity, used at the end of sentences to indicate some discomfort or end of a task. Used by all age groups but mostly by the elderly. Can also be Sivane.

• Kaacha - Under pants

• Kosu kadi* – Lit. Meaning, Mosquito bite to indicate a person is just annoying as such

• Kadiyan – Lit. meaning a biter to indicate an annoying person

• Nariyan – Lit. meaning a male Fox, to indicate a cunning person

• Kummalam* – Lit. meaning dance, derived from a folk form to indicate too much fun

• Nalla thanni* – Lit meaning, good water, to indicate one had too much alcohol to drink

• Nalla veri – Lit meaning one who is highly intoxicated

• Nalla attam – Lit. good dance to indicate too much fun

• 'Ariya koothu – Derived from a folk dance variety to mean too much fun at the expense of prudence.

• Periya pahudi* – Lit. meang big humor to indicate good humor or interesting person

• Pokku vaakku - Unknown origin to indicate no rational in actions

• Machchan* – Derived from cousin to indicate a friend also used amongst the Sinhalese

• Missi – Derived from English "mistress" to indicate a girl who is not behaving or even as an endearment term

• Pudunkki/Pudukki – Lit. meaning one who is plucking to indicate an annoying person

• Amukku* – Lit. meaning submerge to indicate one who is hiding something

• Sooran - Derived from Sanskrit Asura to indicate a very capabale person. Opposite of its original meaning.

• Nallam pallu - Derived from the names of two Jaffna based Dalit-like castes namely Nalavar and Pallar. Used as a pejorative.

• Panang kottai – Lit. meaning seed of the popular palm tree in Jaffna pejorative for Tamils of Jaffna used by others. It can be shortened to Kottai.

• Mukaal – Lit. meaning three fouths (3/4) alluding to removal of foreskin in the process of circumcision of Muslim boys. Pejorative for Muslims. It is also used by the Sinhalese as thunkaala the same meaning as mukaal.

• Thulukan* – Derived from Turk, a pejorative for Muslims

• Vadakathayan– Lit. meaning northerner, a pejorative for any Indian person

• Thovanna – Derived from Thotta Kaadu, a pejorative for Tamils of Indian origin working on Tea and Rubber estates (Thottam is an estate in Tamil)

• Modaya – Lit. meaning stupid for a Sinhalese person. It is derived from a self deprecatory song popular amongst Sinhalese.

       Sinhalaya modaya, kavun kandha yodaya 

Meaning Sinhalese are stupid and are only good for eating Kavun, a popular side dish. In reality the poem is urging the Sinhalese get smarter vis-à-vis the Jaffna Tamils. It is used in opposition to the popular slur of Para Demala or foreign Tamil, used by the Sinhalese against any ethnic Tamil.

• Theevan – Lit meaning Islander, pejorative for Tamils from the islets off the Jaffna peninsula, used as a pejorative by mainland Tamils. (See Islands of Sri Lanka)

• Mattakalappan – Lit. meaning from the city of Baticaloa a very mild pejorative for any Tamil from the eastern province in Sri Lanka.

• Sappattai - Lt. meaning flat for the apparent flat noses of East Asians.

• Karuppa - Lt. meaning Black for people of African descent in Europe or North America. Very mild pejorative as it can be used as a term of endearment amongst fellow Tamils.

• Vellaya - Lit. meaning White for any person of Caucasian ancestry in Europe or North America. Very mild pejorative as it can be used as a term of endearment amongst fellow Tamils

• Sarrakku - Derived from grocery items to be sold. Used to describe women of some attraction. Nalla vadivana sarakku means beautiful girl/women. Only used amongst boys/men unrelated to the girl/women being described. Not a vulgar term but considered to be demeaning to a woman.

• Saman - From items to be sold in a shop. Describes male genitalia. Typically used by men in informal conversation. An offensive word.

• Kunchamani - Lit. meaning little bell to describe the male genitalia of very young boys by their parents, can also be used by adults amongst themselves. Not an offensive word.

• Chachi - To describe breast of a women. Not an offensive word.

• Thambi - Used by girls/women to describe the male genitalia. Not an offensive word.

• Pundai* - Used to boys/men to describe a female genitalia in a non friendly manner. It is considered to be rude to use this word when directly spoken to a girl/woman. Can be used by men to refer to each other also. (See also Punani). It is a vulgar term. Also used amongst the Sinhalese.

• Punna - Same as above but just the first syllable is used so as not to say what is considered to be a vulgar word.

• Koothi* - Another vulgar term for female genitalia.

• thevidiya paiya* - means a illegitimate child,

• thevdiya pulai* - same meaning as above

• kanchi* - actually means starch , used as substitute for semen, eg - mapila kanchi adichiya , meaning "did u mastrubate buddy"

• Pundaiyandi* - Means a slave of female genitals. Term considered to be rude when used in anger but can be used by boys/men in a playful manner too. Used extensively as a swear word in internet flame wars.

• Masir/Mayir* - Pubic hair, used in the context of periya masir enda ninaippu. Literal meaning, he considers himself a big pubic hair but the indirect meaning is that he is just a pubic hair.

• Masirandi/Mayirandi* - Lit. meaning slave of pubic hair which means a person overly concerned about having sex or addicted to sex. Term considered to be rude when used in anger but can be used by boys/men in a playful manner too.

• Okku/Okka* - Lit. meaning to have sexual intercourse, rhymes with English "fuck" in meaning and usage also.

• Otha* - Same as above.

• Sunni* - Male genitalia, unknown origin

• Nalla vilachal - Some times used to describe bountiful female breasts generally by boys/men but also can be used by girls/women.

• Thullu - Lit. meaning jingling to denote female breasts bountiful or not.

• Kottai* - Li. meaning balls to describe male testacies

• Kottai atti - Lit. meaning one who shows off his testacies.

• Kottaiandi - Means a Slave of the male testacies to infer that person is gay when he is not.

• Aunty* - An older women but of some attraction to those who are talking about her. From the English word for an aunt

• Amma okka - Same as mother fucker in meaning and usage.

• Kai addi* - For male masturbation

• Kundi* - Ones back side. Although it is a literal not a slang term it is rarely used in public discourse hence attaining the status of slang term when used.

• Arrippu – Derived from a place name that indicates a place of sea erosion in the Puttalam district. It can also mean an itch, hence used to indicate sexual urge or a girl who is supposedly dying to have sex according to the speaker deploying the term usually a bragging male.

• Koothi* - Female genitalia