Dravidian

American

[druh-vid-ee-uhn] / drəˈvɪd i ən /

noun

a family of languages, wholly distinct from Indo-European, spoken mostly in southern India and Sri Lanka and including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and, in Pakistan, Brahui.
a member of the aboriginal population occupying much of southern India and parts of Sri Lanka.

adjective

Also Dravidic of or relating to this people or their language.

Dravidian British

/ drəˈvɪdɪən /

noun

a family of languages spoken in S and central India and Sri Lanka, including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Gondi
a member of one of the aboriginal races of India, pushed south by the Indo-Europeans and now mixed with them

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

denoting, belonging to, or relating to this family of languages or these peoples

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Etymology

Origin of Dravidian

First recorded in 1855–60; from Sanskrit Draviḍ(a) the proper name of an ethnic group + -ian

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023