Nakh-Daghestanian · ISO 639-3 che · ce
Chechen Language Нохчийн
Chechen is a Nakh-Daghestanian language spoken by about 1.4 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Cyrillic script.
Where Chechen is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
About the Chechen language
Chechen (Нохчийн) is spoken by about 1.4 million people, which makes it the 401st most spoken language in the world — just behind Vlaams (1.4 million) and ahead of Domari (1.3 million). It belongs to the Nakh-Daghestanian language family and, more precisely, to the Chechen-Ingush group within the Chechen-Ingush branch.
Where is Chechen spoken?
Chechen is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Russia (1.5 million).
Chechen is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in Russia.
Writing system and status
Chechen is written in the Cyrillic script. Glottolog classifies it as threatened, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Ingush.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 ce, ISO 639-3 che.
Frequently asked questions about Chechen
How many people speak Chechen?
Where is Chechen spoken?
What language family does Chechen belong to?
What is Chechen called in Chechen?
Is Chechen an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.