வகுப்புத் தோழன்
“வகுப்புத் தோழன்” (vagupput tōḻaṉ) — classmate in Tamil. Noun, level A2. va-gup-put thozhan; the zh is that same tongue-curled-back sound as in the word Tamil. In a live sentence: “அவர் என் பழைய வகுப்புத் தோழன்” — He is my old classmate. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters வ, க, ு, ப, ், ப, ு, த, ், த, ோ, ழ. A word from the everyday Tamil course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Tamil | வகுப்புத் தோழன் |
| Read in Latin letters | vagupput tōḻaṉ |
| Translation | classmate |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- வகுப்புத் தோழன்vagupput tōḻaṉclassmate
How to pronounce it
va-gup-put thozhan; the zh is that same tongue-curled-back sound as in the word Tamil
Why it looks that way
thozhan 'comrade' is warmer than the neutral friend word. For a girl there is the female form
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.
- அவர் என் பழைய வகுப்புத் தோழன்avar eṉ paḻaiya vagupput tōḻaṉHe is my old classmate
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 “classmate” in Tamil?
«வகுப்புத் தோழன்», read “vagupput tōḻaṉ”. va-gup-put thozhan; the zh is that same tongue-curled-back sound as in the word Tamil. In a live sentence: “அவர் என் பழைய வகுப்புத் தோழன்” — He is my old classmate. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2; written with the characters வ, க, ு, ப, ், ப, ு, த, ், த, ோ, ழ.
How is “வகுப்புத் தோழன்” written in Latin letters?
vagupput tōḻaṉ. 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?
thozhan 'comrade' is warmer than the neutral friend word. For a girl there is the female form. 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.