குற்றமுள்ளவர்
“குற்றமுள்ளவர்” (kuṟṟamuḷḷavar) — guilty in Tamil. Adjective, level B1. Tamil has no adjective 'guilty': literally 'the one who has guilt', that is, a noun. A verdict sounds exactly so: 'the court declared him the one who has guilt'. In a live sentence: “நீதிமன்றம் அவரை குற்றமுள்ளவர் எண்டு சொன்னது” — The court declared him guilty. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters க, ு, ற, ், ற, ம, ு, ள, ், ள, வ, ர.
In short
| Written in Tamil | குற்றமுள்ளவர் |
| Read in Latin letters | kuṟṟamuḷḷavar |
| Translation | guilty |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | B1 |
- குற்றமுள்ளவர்kuṟṟamuḷḷavarguilty
Why it looks that way
Tamil has no adjective 'guilty': literally 'the one who has guilt', that is, a noun. A verdict sounds exactly so: 'the court declared him the one who has guilt'
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- நீதிமன்றம் அவரை குற்றமுள்ளவர் எண்டு சொன்னதுnīdimaṉṟam avarai kuṟṟamuḷḷavar eṇḍu soṉṉaduThe court declared him guilty
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “guilty” in Tamil?
«குற்றமுள்ளவர்», read “kuṟṟamuḷḷavar”. In a live sentence: “நீதிமன்றம் அவரை குற்றமுள்ளவர் எண்டு சொன்னது” — The court declared him guilty. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adjective, level B1; written with the characters க, ு, ற, ், ற, ம, ு, ள, ், ள, வ, ர.
How is “குற்றமுள்ளவர்” written in Latin letters?
kuṟṟamuḷḷavar. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Tamil has no adjective 'guilty': literally 'the one who has guilt', that is, a noun. A verdict sounds exactly so: 'the court declared him the one who has guilt'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.