Dravidian · ISO 639-3 tel · te
Telugu Language తెలుగు
Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken by about 95 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Telugu and Latin scripts.
Where Telugu is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Telugu
Language family
- Dravidian
- South Dravidian
- South Dravidian II
- Teluguic
- Telugu
Writing system
Telugu and Latin scripts
Related languages
About the Telugu language
Telugu (తెలుగు) is spoken by about 95 million people, which makes it the 15th most spoken language in the world — just behind Western Panjabi (113 million) and ahead of Marathi (93 million). It belongs to the Dravidian language family and, more precisely, to the Teluguic group within the South Dravidian II branch.
Where is Telugu spoken?
Telugu is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in India (101 million).
Telugu is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in India.
Writing system and status
Telugu is written in the Telugu 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 Waddar, Gondi and Northern Gondi.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 te, ISO 639-3 tel.
Frequently asked questions about Telugu
How many people speak Telugu?
Where is Telugu spoken?
What language family does Telugu belong to?
What is Telugu called in Telugu?
Is Telugu 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.