Dravidian

[druh-vid-ee-uhn]

noun

1. 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.

2. a member of the aboriginal population occupying much of southern India and parts of Sri Lanka.

adjective

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

Dravidian

/ drəˈvɪdɪən /

noun

1. a family of languages spoken in S and central India and Sri Lanka, including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Gondi

2. a member of one of the aboriginal races of India, pushed south by the Indo-Europeans and now mixed with them

adjective

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

Other Word Forms

• pre-Dravidian adjective
• pre-Dravidic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Dravidian¹

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

Example Sentences

As a result, urbanisation in ancient India is often viewed as a northern phenomenon, with a dominant narrative that the northern Aryans "civilised" the Dravidian south.

From BBC

Theories have linked it to early Brahmi scripts, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages, Sumerian, and even claimed it's just made up of political or religious symbols.

From BBC

Some linguists, however, argue that the appearance of Sanskrit was predated by Tamil, a Dravidian language that is still used by almost 85 million native speakers in southern India and Sri Lanka.

From Scientific American

They numbered some 400,000, spoke a language of the Austroasiatic family—unlike India’s mainstream Indo-European and Dravidian languages—and lay largely outside the Hindu world.

From Scientific American

Now known as Hampi, that great city marks the pinnacle of Dravidian architecture, with its soaring temple towers and colonnades.

From New York Times