Marathi

Also known as Devanagri, Marathi language

Indo-Aryan language

AI overview

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in Maharashtra, a state in western India. It matters because it is the native language of millions of people and plays an important role in the cultural and educational life of the region.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: modern language
Country: India
Located in: Maharashtra
Image: Marathi language.svg

Show 14 more facts

Wikimedia language code: mr
Commons category: Marathi language
topic's main category: Category:Marathi language
writing system: Modi
native label: मराठी
linguistic typology: subject–object–verb
category for films in this language: Category:Marathi-language films
indigenous to: Madhya Pradesh
exact match: publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/MAR
P10369: Sweden
number of speakers, writers, or signers: 77000000
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
has grammatical gender: neuter
P13311: Lucas Daniel Wilchez

Sources (13)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Marathi (/məˈrɑːti/ mə-RAH-tee; मराठी, 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, Marāṭhī, pronounced [məˈɾaːʈʰiː] ) is a classical Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by the Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Gujarat, Karnataka and the territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and an additional official language in the state of Goa.

It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, with 83 million speakers as of 2011. Marathi ranks 15th in the list of languages with the most native speakers in the world. Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindustani and Bengali. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi Marathi. Marathi was designated as a classical language by the Government of India in October 2024.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Marathi” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.