The first edition of Cre-A's Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil (Tamil-Tamil-English) was published in 1992. Since then, the book has become the dictionary of contemporary written Tamil used by students and teachers of Tamil around the world. For more than a decade, this book has been the most reliable, detailed, and useful dictionary of contemporary Tamil on the market. How could such a “classic” be improved even further? Based on a digital corpus of 7.5 million words, the second revised and enlarged edition of the dictionary has approximately 21,000 main entries (instead of the 15,875 main entries of the first edition), 38,000 illustrative sample sentences and collocations, 1,700 Sri Lankan Tamil words, and 342 line drawings. These numbers quickly highlight some of the features that make this dictionary particularly useful: the inclusion of sample sentences and phrases to illustrate usage in collocations or with specific objects, the inclusion of Sri Lankan regional usages, and finally the inclusion of line drawings to supplement the written definitions of specific terms. A typical entry consists of the headword followed by grammatical information (grammatical category, information on verbal inflection, etc.); notes on usage, in which the headword is classified according to frequency (words gaining currency or becoming rare), regional usage, or stylistic level (spoken, elevated, taboo); a definition in Tamil; a definition in English; and one or more sample sentences and collocations.

The new edition of Cre-A's Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil is without any doubt an excellent reference work, setting new standards in Tamil lexicography. But because the editors explicitly complain about the paucity of detailed reviews of the first edition (p. xxiv), I venture to offer here at least a small wish list of issues that might be considered for a future third edition. As with almost all dictionaries, it is easy to wish for more. The language variety described by Cre-A's Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil is referred to as “Standard Written Tamil” (potu eḻuttut tamiḻ), which is defined as a variety of Tamil that readers of all regions and communities can read and understand (p. xxxi). This choice means that region- or community-specific words have generally not been included. It seems to me that a larger number of these more specific words could usefully be included, simply because they are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to find elsewhere. The same is true for colloquial expressions (e.g., muñci, ṣōkku), including vulgar and taboo words or colloquial usages of existing headwords (e.g., kuruvi). Moreover, for the foreign learner of Tamil, it would be useful to flag verbal rection, the specific cases that verbs require, more clearly. While in the current edition, verbal rection can often (though not always) be determined from the sample sentences given, an explicit indication would be a much- appreciated innovation for Tamil dictionaries. None of these suggestions is meant to belittle in any way the achievements of the new second edition of Cre-A's Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil. It deserves to be called a milestone in the history of Tamil lexicography, and can be recommended enthusiastically to anyone who is interested in the Tamil language.