Malayalam words in English

Though the language changes according to districts in Keralam, These will help to understand a few words & its meaning!
Greetings and Basic Expressions

namaskaaram! Hello!

This is a rather formal greeting, and it is not usually used between friends, relatives, or acquaintances. More informal and commonly used equivalents would be "hello," "hi," or just an exclamation that sounds like "eh!"

engngane irikkunnu? How are you? (formal)

chOrruNTO? Had food? (informal)

chOrruNTO? is a combination of the words chOrr(u) "cooked rice" and uNTO? "did you eat?" and literally means "Have you eaten your rice?" In Asia, it's very common to ask whether you've eaten or bathed. Such a greeting doesn't mean anything; it's just a way of saying hi. (The reason why it asks whether you've eaten rice specifically is simply because in Kerala rice is considered essential for any good meal.)


Another more common informal way of asking, "How are you?" is by asking:

engnganuNT? How's it going?

This literally means, "How is there?" or, more figuratively, "What is [it] like?"

uNT. Fine. (Informal)

hum. Yes. (Informal)

The two informal words shown above are common answers to chOrruNTO? "Hum" is just the Malayalam spelling for "mmm..." There are also two common ways to answer the formal question engngine irikkunnu?:

kuzhappam illa. No problem. (Formal)

sukhamaayiTT irikkunnu. Doing fine. (Formal)

Kuzhappam illa literally means "there's no problem--hakuna matata!" but for the fact that it's more often used in Malayalam and is thus less carefree.

In Kerala, there are virtually no commonly used words for "thank you," "excuse me," and "sorry" other than the regular English words and one word for "thanks" used only in Malayalam prayers.

saaramilla. It's OK.

saaramilla is only used as a term of forgiveness (i.e. in response to an apology).

However, there is one commonly used phrase for "thanks," but you normally use it if somebody has done you a favor (not when, for example, you get a gift for your birthday party):

valiya upakaaramaayi! Lots of Thanks!

Or sometimes, for short:

upakaaram! Thanks!

The first of the above words literally means "it [what you had done for me] has been a great favor." The latter literally means "favor" and, as already mentioned, is an abbreviated version of the former.

Also, there are several words for "yes" and "no," depending on the context. But there are two all-purpose words you could use to express positivism:

aa. Yes. (Another sound word)

pinne enthaa! Of course/ What else!

The second of the two all-purpose words literally means "then what." Similar to the phrase "why not!"

If you really want to impress Malayalees, you can try using the word:

athe/ uvvu. Yes.

Now for some more poetic words you never will need to use! If you use these words on somebody who doesn't know you, the Malayalee listener will probably think you're a professor of Malayalam or something, foreign or otherwise, since most Malayalee professors don't distinguish between everyday and written Malayalam.

vandanam. Greetings.

Suprabhaatham. Good morning.

Subha/nalla raathri. Good night.

Nandi. Thank you.

KshamikkaNam! Sorry!



vandanam is another word usually used when invoking (a) God (even though it comes from a common Tamil greeting). nandi is actually pronounced like nanni; in the old days, people did not say "thank you" as much as we English-speakers do, and this word was (and still sometimes may be) used only when somebody had done you a great favor. kshamikkaNam actually means something more like "please forgive me." This is the only way that I have ever seen it used, and only once have I actually heard somebody even use this word. (Here most of the Malayalees usually use English "sorry.")

Well, that's quite a bit of phrases to learn! Take your time studying these phrases, and learn at your own pace! Until then:

ennaal aakaTTE!* Then Okay!

pinne kaanam See you later
*Pronounced /ennaal aaTTE/; a common, informally used phrase, literally meaning, "I/we/you will be going, then!"