The word "Kodaikanal" is an amalgamation of two words: "kodai" and "kanal". The Tamil language has at least four possible interpretations of the name Kodaikanal. By pronouncing the first syllable of Kodaikanal with a long Tamil 'O', as in "k"oe"-dei", it means "summer", whilst the final two syllables "kanal" can mean "to see", rendering "Kodaikanal" as a "place to see in summer". Kodaikanal is a summer forest, and it is a place that the first missionaries used as a refuge to escape the overbearing and mosquito-ridden heat of the plains — a place that they would have counted on seeing in the summer.