Chennai

C3H4E1N1N1A1I1
UK/ˈt͡ʃɛnaɪ/South Asia/t͡ʃenːaɪ/South Asia[ˈt͡ʃenːai̯]

proper noun

The capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, India, formerly known as Madras.

Similar
ChenappapatamChennapatnamChennapattanamuChinapatamChinapatanaMadras
OriginTamil சென்னை →
CommonScrabble 12
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. The capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, India, formerly known as Madras.

    The £4bn expressways form a diamond linking Delhi with the country's three other largest cities, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta, marking the beginning of more than £35bn of road projects.

    2007 December 5, Randeep Ramesh, “Speed limits rise as India falls in love with the car”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2021
  2. A district of Tamil Nadu, India, containing most of metro Chennai.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
ChenappapatamChennapatnamChennapattanamuChinapatamChinapatanaMadras
Also see
madras

Origin

  1. Tamilசென்னை
  2. Tamilசென்னை
  3. EnglishChennai

Borrowed from Tamil சென்னை (ceṉṉai).

More words from Tamil

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تْشِينَاي
  • تْشِينَاي (tšināy)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Bengali চেন্নাই
  • চেন্নাই (cennai)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Bulgarian Чена́й
  • Чена́й (Čenáj)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Catalan Txennai, Chennai
  • Txennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Chinese Mandarin 金奈, 清奈
  • 金奈 (Jīnnài)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
  • 清奈 (Qīngnài)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
  • 真奈 (Zhēnnài)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Dutch Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Finnish Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
French Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
German Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Greek Τσεννάι
  • Τσεννάι (Tsennái)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Hebrew צ׳נאי
  • צ׳נאיstate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Hindi चेन्नई
  • चेन्नई (cennaī)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Japanese チェンナイ
  • チェンナイ (Chennai)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Korean 첸나이
  • 첸나이 (Chennai)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Latvian Čenaja
  • Čenajastate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Lithuanian Čenajus
  • Čenajusstate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Polish Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Portuguese Chennai, Madras
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
  • Madrasstate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
  • Madrastastate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Punjabi ਚੇਨਈ
  • ਚੇਨਈ (cenaī)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Russian Ченна́и
  • Ченна́и (Čennái)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Swedish Chennai
  • Chennaistate capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Tamil சென்னை
  • சென்னை (ceṉṉai)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Thai เจนไน
  • เจนไน (jeen-nai)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India
Urdu چنّئی
  • چنّئی (canna'ī)state capital of Tamil Nadu, India

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Chennai

byimybuyhighywhyreplyjJulytryapplysupplyhieyeguyfidiflyskynearbykyspysi
All rhymes →

Anagrams

enchain
Cite this entry
APA

Chennai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chennai

MLA

“Chennai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chennai. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chennai,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chennai.

Source: Chennai on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.