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Tiro Tamil

Designed By

Tiro Typeworks, Fernando Mello, Fiona Ross, Kaja Słojewska

2 Styles Serif

The pleasure
of a well-set
page.

Tiro Tamil · Regular

Compare this serif family in headings and a continuous reading sample.

2 styles available. Compare the specimens below, or enter your own text.

Download Tiro Tamil ↓

TTF · SIL Open Font License 1.1

Set Your Own Text

Change the style and size to compare the letterforms.

Selected poems, with commentary

A Page In Tiro Tamil

Tiro Tamil · Regular

Headings, labels and running text.

Notes From The Reading Room

The reading room opens onto a quiet courtyard. Along the shelves, small handwritten labels mark the collections. A visitor leaves a book open beside the window, keeping a place for the next reader.

A heading marks the next chapter. The margins leave room for a note while the text continues across the page.

2 Styles,
One Family

Every available style is shown below in its own font file.

Regular400

Selected poems, with commentary

Italic400

Selected poems, with commentary

Behind Tiro Tamil are the metal types cut in Madras, now Chennai, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and behind those are 2 older sources at once: palm leaf manuscripts and the handwriting of the day. Fernando Mello and Fiona Ross took that mix as their starting point.

The font began among the types drawn for Harvard’s Murty Classical Library of India, so it was built first for literary publishing. Its strokes are modulated, thick to thin, which keeps a page of Tamil lively, and the traditional ligature forms are there through OpenType for anyone who wants the older look.

What is new for the open release is the italic. Kaja Słojewska adapted it, and it follows the traditional slanted Tamil typography, so emphasis in a Tamil text no longer has to be borrowed from bold or from another font.

The Latin, by John Hudson, carries the diacritics used to transcribe Indian languages, along with small caps. A scholar writing in English about classical Tamil poetry, quoting the Tamil and romanizing the names, could do the whole page in this family.

Tiro Tamil type specimen with letters and figures
Tiro Tamil · Type Specimen

Characters & Figures

451 glyphs reported in the reference style. This selection shows 400 recorded characters.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789 & @ ? !

View The Recorded Character Selection
!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~¡¢£¤¥¦§¨©ª«¬®¯°±²³´µ·¸¹º»¼½¾¿ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõö÷øùúûüýþÿĀāĂăĈĉČčĒēĔĕĠġĨĩĪīĬĭıĹĺŅņŌōŎŏŒœŔশŠšŨũŪūŬŭŸŹźŽžƒǢǣȷʾʿˆ˚˜̧̣̤̥̦̮̱॒̀́̂̃̄̆̇̈̊̌̐॑͟।॥ஂஃஅஆஇஈஉஊஎஏஐஒஓஔகஙசஜஞடணதநனபமயரறலளழவஶஷஸஹாிீுூெேைொோௌ்ௐௗ௦௧௨௩௪௫௬௭௮௯௰௱௲௳௴௵௶௷௸௹௺ḌḍḎḏḖḗḤḥḲḳḴḵḶḷḺḻṀṁṂṃṄṅṆṇṈṉṌṍṘṙṚṛṜṝṞṟṢṣṬṭṮṯṸṹẎẏẒẓẔẕẖẞẼẽ–—‘’‚‛

The Font Files

Download
Tiro Tamil

2 TTF styles with the accompanying CSS, README and license information.

Download ZIP · 186 KB ↓
Version
1.52
License
SIL Open Font License 1.1
Read The Font License ↗

Install On Your Computer

Extract the ZIP first. On Windows, select the font files and choose Install from the context menu. On macOS, open the files in Font Book and choose Install.

Use On A Website

Keep the font files and the included stylesheet together. Update the stylesheet path to match your project.

<link rel="stylesheet"
  href="/fonts/tiro-tamil-2/tiro-tamil-2.css">

body {
  font-family: 'Tiro Tamil', sans-serif;
}

Keep the copyright and license notices with redistributed files.

Heading & Body

The family provides the heading; Inter carries the supporting text.

Tiro Tamil Heading · Inter Body

Notes From The Reading Room

The reading room opens onto a quiet courtyard. Along the shelves, small handwritten labels mark the collections. A visitor leaves a book open beside the window, keeping a place for the next reader.