Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 nym
Nyamwezi Language Kinyamwezi
Nyamwezi is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.9 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Nyamwezi is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Nyamwezi
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Northeast Savanna Bantu
- Sukuma-Nyamwezi (F.20)
- Nyamwezic
- Nyamwezi
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Nyamwezi language
Nyamwezi (Kinyamwezi) is spoken by about 1.9 million people, which makes it the 327th most spoken language in the world — just behind Giryama (1.9 million) and ahead of Kipsigis (1.9 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Nyamwezic group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Nyamwezi spoken?
Nyamwezi is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Tanzania (2.2 million).
Nyamwezi is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Nyamwezi is written in the Latin script. 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 Sukuma, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Rundi, Nande, Kikuyu and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 nym.
Frequently asked questions about Nyamwezi
How many people speak Nyamwezi?
Where is Nyamwezi spoken?
What language family does Nyamwezi belong to?
What is Nyamwezi called in Nyamwezi?
Is Nyamwezi 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.