The Tamil script is an Indic script that is used to write the Tamil language. The Tamil script has twelve vowels, eighteen consonants and one character, the āytam, which is classified in Tamil grammar as being neither a consonant nor a vowel, though often considered as part of the vowel set.
The complete script, therefore, consists of the thirty-one letters in their independent form, and an additional 216 combinant letters representing a total 247 combinations of a consonant and a vowel, a mute consonant or a vowel alone.
These combinant letters are formed by adding a vowel marker to the consonant.
The Tamil script is written from left to right.
