External Body Parts
Tap any tile to hear the Tamil word spoken.
The twelve most common external body parts — the vocabulary you need when seeing a doctor, getting dressed, describing pain, or pointing out a feature. One thing to know: Tamil கை covers both hand and arm, and கால் covers both leg and foot. Context decides which part is meant; if you must be specific, use உள்ளங்கை (palm) or பாதம் (foot proper).
External body parts (12)
Pluralisation note
For paired body parts (eyes, ears, hands, legs), Tamil often uses the plural -கள் form: கண்கள் (“eyes”), காதுகள் (“ears”), கைகள் (“hands”). The singular suffices when context is clear (“I closed my eyes” → “நான் கண் மூடினேன்” is perfectly natural). With pain, the construction is X-க்கு வலி: தலைக்கு வலி (“I have a headache”; lit. “to-the-head pain”).