This is the 73rd most frequent Tamil word.
எத
"எத" means "what" in English.
Here 'எத' (eḍa) is a pronoun indicating 'something' to be defined or understood from context.
நான் எதைக் கொடுத்து உதவ வேண்டும்.
I need to help by giving something.
Here 'எதற்கு' (eḍaṛku) means 'why,' combining 'எத' (what) with a suffix indicating purpose or reason.
எதற்கு நீ இங்கே வந்தாய்?
Why did you come here?
In this sentence, 'எதை' (eṭai) is a question word asking about the object of the action, meaning 'what' in an interrogative sense.