Indo-European · ISO 639-3 mai
Maithili Language मैथिली
Maithili is an Indo-European language spoken by about 34 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Devanagari, Kaithi and Latin scripts.
Where Maithili is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Language family
- Indo-European
- Classical Indo-European
- Indo-Iranian
- Indo-Aryan
- Middle-Modern Indo-Aryan
- Continental Indo-Aryan
- Midlands Indo-Aryan
- Shaurasenic
- Bihari
- Magadhan
- Maithili
Writing system
Devanagari, Kaithi, Latin, Newa and Tirhuta scripts
Related languages
About the Maithili language
Maithili (मैथिली) is spoken by about 34 million people, which makes it the 51st most spoken language in the world — just behind Odia (35 million) and ahead of Sundanese (32 million). It belongs to the Indo-European language family and, more precisely, to the Magadhan group within the Indo-Iranian branch.
Where is Maithili spoken?
Maithili is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in India (17 million) and Nepal (3.4 million).
Share of the population that speaks Maithili: India 1.2% (17 million) and Nepal 11% (3.4 million).
Maithili is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in India.
Writing system and status
Maithili is written in the Devanagari, Kaithi, Latin and 2 more 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 Bhojpuri, Magahi, Sadri, Sonha, Hindi, Urdu and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 mai.
Frequently asked questions about Maithili
How many people speak Maithili?
Where is Maithili spoken?
What language family does Maithili belong to?
What is Maithili called in Maithili?
Is Maithili 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.