Dravidian · ISO 639-3 kan · kn
Kannada Language ಕನ್ನಡ
Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken by about 49 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Kannada and Latin scripts.
Where Kannada is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
About the Kannada language
Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) is spoken by about 49 million people, which makes it the 36th most spoken language in the world — just behind Min Nan Chinese (50 million) and ahead of Hakka Chinese (48 million). It belongs to the Dravidian language family and, more precisely, to the Nuclear Kannaoid group within the South Dravidian I branch.
Where is Kannada spoken?
Kannada is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in India (52 million).
Kannada is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in India.
Writing system and status
Kannada is written in the Kannada and Latin scripts. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 kn, ISO 639-3 kan.
Frequently asked questions about Kannada
How many people speak Kannada?
Where is Kannada spoken?
What language family does Kannada belong to?
What is Kannada called in Kannada?
Is Kannada 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.