Dravidian
/dɹəˈvɪdɪən/
Dravidian proper noun: a family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Proper noun
Dravidian
- A family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- Any of the languages of these aboriginal peoples; Dravidic.
Noun
Dravidian (plural Dravidians)
- A member of any of several aboriginal peoples of India and Sri Lanka thought to have spread in India before Aryan migration.
Adjective
Dravidian (comparative more Dravidian, superlative most Dravidian)
- Of or relating to the Dravidian people or language.
Dravidian meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
Dravidian in Hindi
- family of languages
- द्रविड़ draviṛ
Dravidian in Tamil
- family of languages
- திராவிட மொழி tirāviṭa moḻi
Dravidian in Urdu
- دراوڑی
Dravidian in Telugu
- Dravidian
- ద్రావిడ drāviḍa
More languagesFewer languages
- Dravidian in Punjabi
- ਦਰਾਵੜ darāvaṛ
- Dravidian in Sanskrit
- द्राविड drāviḍa
- Dravidian in Malay
- bahasa Dravidia, orang Dravidia
- Dravidian in Indonesian
- bahasa Dravida
Forms of Dravidian
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | Dravidians |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more Dravidian |
| superlative | most Dravidian |
Origin of Dravidian
From Sanskrit द्राविड (drāviḍa) + -ian. *tamiḻ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, 'hypercorrect' (or perhaps analogical) -r-, into dr(a/ā)viḍa.
Words formed from Dravidian
Questions about Dravidian
- What does Dravidian mean?
- Dravidian means a family of related ethnicities and languages primarily in Southern India, Northeast Sri Lanka, and parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- What is Dravidian in Hindi?
- Dravidian in Hindi is द्रविड़ (draviṛ). See Dravidian meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Dravidian?
- Dravidian can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce Dravidian?
- Dravidian is pronounced /dɹəˈvɪdɪən/.
Words near Dravidian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Dravidian (page history and authors); Dravidian (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ద్రావిడ (Telugu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Dravidian.wav.
Cite this entry: “Dravidian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dravidian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.