Austronesian · ISO 639-3 war
Waray (Philippines) Language Waray
Waray (Philippines) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 3.2 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Waray (Philippines) is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Waray (Philippines)
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Greater Central Philippine
- Central Philippine
- Bisayan
- Central Bisayan
- Warayan
- Samar-Waray
- Waray (Philippines)
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Waray (Philippines) language
Waray (Philippines) (Waray) is spoken by about 3.2 million people, which makes it the 239th most spoken language in the world — just behind Jamaican Creole English (3.2 million) and ahead of Dagbani (3.2 million). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Samar-Waray group within the Greater Central Philippine branch.
Where is Waray (Philippines) spoken?
Waray (Philippines) is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Philippines (3.4 million) and Canada (4,655).
Share of the population that speaks Waray (Philippines): Philippines 2.9% (3.4 million) and Canada <0.1% (4,655).
Waray (Philippines) is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in Philippines.
Writing system and status
Waray (Philippines) 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 Hiligaynon, Cebuano, Tausug, Kinaray-A, Filipino, Tagalog and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 war.
Frequently asked questions about Waray (Philippines)
How many people speak Waray (Philippines)?
Where is Waray (Philippines) spoken?
What language family does Waray (Philippines) belong to?
What is Waray (Philippines) called in Waray (Philippines)?
Is Waray (Philippines) 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.