The rational PNG suffixes (அ)ன், (அ)ள், (அ)ர் and (அ)ர்கள் can be added to certain nouns to create nouns referring to humans with the meanings of ‘he of ____’, ‘she of____’, ‘they of ____’. This is similar to the process by which nouns like Sri Lankan, librarian, are formed from nouns like Sri Lanka and library.
For example:
- மீனவர்கள் – fishermen (from மீன் / fish)
- பாண்டியர்கள் – the Pandyas (from பாண்டிய நாடு / Pandyan empire)