Extended Family
Tap any tile to hear the word spoken.
Tamil family vocabulary splits by side — maternal (mother’s side) versus paternal (father’s side) — and by relative age. The six words below cover the most common everyday relatives; the full system has more (e.g. பெரியப்பா for father’s elder brother, பெரியம்மா for mother’s elder sister) but these six get you through most introductions.
Grandparents, uncles & aunts (6)
Side matters
A quick map of who’s who: மாமா is your mother’s brother (any age) — the maternal uncle who, in Tamil tradition, is also your potential father-in-law. அத்தை is your father’s sister. The split-by-age younger paternal-uncle (சித்தப்பா) and younger maternal-aunt (சித்தி) come from சிறு (small / younger) glued onto அப்பா / அம்மா.