படுதோல்வி
“படுதோல்வி” (paḍutōlvi) — utter failure in Tamil. Noun, level B1. Padu is the booster 'utter', and 'failure' is already in the course. Together — a crushing defeat. In a live sentence: “அந்தத் திட்டம் ஒரு படுதோல்வி” — That project turned out an utter failure. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ப, ட, ு, த, ோ, ல, ், வ, ி. A word from the everyday Tamil course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Tamil | படுதோல்வி |
| Read in Latin letters | paḍutōlvi |
| Translation | utter failure |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- படுதோல்விpaḍutōlviutter failure
Why it looks that way
Padu is the booster 'utter', and 'failure' is already in the course. Together — a crushing defeat
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.
- அந்தத் திட்டம் ஒரு படுதோல்விandat tiṭṭam oru paḍutōlviThat project turned out an utter failure
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 “utter failure” in Tamil?
«படுதோல்வி», read “paḍutōlvi”. In a live sentence: “அந்தத் திட்டம் ஒரு படுதோல்வி” — That project turned out an utter failure. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ப, ட, ு, த, ோ, ல, ், வ, ி.
How is “படுதோல்வி” written in Latin letters?
paḍutōlvi. 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?
Padu is the booster 'utter', and 'failure' is already in the course. Together — a crushing defeat. 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.