ஒழுங்கை
“ஒழுங்கை” (oḻuṅgai) — alley in Tamil. Noun, level B1, topic — the city and its places. o-lun-gai; the zh is the tongue-curled-back sound of the word Tamil. In a live sentence: “எங்கட வீடு ரெண்டாவது ஒழுங்கையில” — Our house is in the second alley. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ஒ, ழ, ு, ங, ், க, ை. One of 94 words in the set “the city and its places” in the Tamil course.
In short
| Written in Tamil | ஒழுங்கை |
| Read in Latin letters | oḻuṅgai |
| Translation | alley |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- ஒழுங்கைoḻuṅgaialley
How to pronounce it
o-lun-gai; the zh is the tongue-curled-back sound of the word Tamil
Why it looks that way
A purely island word: Tamil Nadu would not understand it — there they say another one. A narrow lane between fences, of which Jaffna has hundreds
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.
- எங்கட வீடு ரெண்டாவது ஒழுங்கையிலeṅgaḍa vīḍu reṇḍāvadu oḻuṅgaiyilaOur house is in the second alley
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- கடைkaḍaishopHere the position rule is audible: ḍ between vowels stays soft d — kaḍay, not kaṭay
- சந்தைsandaimarketFrom candi, 'to meet' — the place where people come together. Its relative candi means 'crossroads', and mixing them up is easy
- மருந்துக்கடைmarundukkaḍaipharmacyMarundu is 'medicine', kaḍai is 'shop'. Compound words in Tamil assemble exactly like this, edge to edge
- வங்கிvaṅgibankThe English bank written in Tamil script. In live speech people more often just say 'bank'
- சாலைsālaistreetA road you drive on. The way in general and the lane are vaḻi; a small side street is 'the inner road'
- மளிகைக் கடைmaḷigaik kaḍaigrocery storema-li-gay ka-day; the ḷ is made with the tongue curled back — not the plain l
- வரிசைvarisaiqueueAlso 'a row'. 'Stand in the queue' is 'stand in the row'. People often say the English 'queue' too
- திறந்திருக்குtiṟandirukkuis openLiterally 'stands opened'. On the door they write the longer bookish form
- மூடியிருக்குmūḍiyirukkuis closedThe partner of 'is open'. If it is locked with a key, a third form appears: 'is locked'
- மாடிmāḍifloor (storey)Also 'the top of a house': a house of two māḍi is a two-storey house
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “alley” in Tamil?
A purely island word: Tamil Nadu would not understand it — there they say another one. A narrow lane between fences, of which Jaffna has hundreds
- How do you say “queue” in Tamil?
Also 'a row'. 'Stand in the queue' is 'stand in the row'. People often say the English 'queue' too
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Tamil?
Marundu is 'medicine', kaḍai is 'shop'. Compound words in Tamil assemble exactly like this, edge to edge
- How do you say “floor (storey)” in Tamil?
Also 'the top of a house': a house of two māḍi is a two-storey house
- How do you say “grocery store” in Tamil?
The first word is 'groceries': rice, lentils, spices. Snapped together like the pharmacy you know
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 “alley” in Tamil?
«ஒழுங்கை», read “oḻuṅgai”. o-lun-gai; the zh is the tongue-curled-back sound of the word Tamil. In a live sentence: “எங்கட வீடு ரெண்டாவது ஒழுங்கையில” — Our house is in the second alley. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1, from the set “the city and its places”; written with the characters ஒ, ழ, ு, ங, ், க, ை.
How is “ஒழுங்கை” written in Latin letters?
oḻuṅgai. 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?
A purely island word: Tamil Nadu would not understand it — there they say another one. A narrow lane between fences, of which Jaffna has hundreds. 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.