Nepali

Also known as Nepal, Nepalese, Nepali language, Gorkhali

official language of Nepal

AI overview

Nepali is the official language of Nepal, a country in South Asia. It matters because it serves as the primary language for government, education, and communication across Nepal.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Image: Nepali language.svg

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Commons category: Nepali language
Wikimedia language code: ne
native label: नेपाली
exact match: publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/NEP
P10369: wood
number of speakers, writers, or signers: 24131000
P11012: Myrmarachne dilatata
P13311: George Sabra
ranking: 59

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Article

Nepali (Devanagari: नेपाली) is the official and most-widely spoken language of Nepal, where it also serves as a lingua franca. It is an Indo-Aryan language, belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch within the Indo-European language family, native to the Himalayan region of South Asia.

Historically, the language has been known by several names. It was previously called Gorkhali language, after the Gorkha Kingdom, and before that as Khas Kura, the language of the Khas people, and Parbatiya language, meaning the language of the mountain people. The term Nepali came into official use in the 20th century during the reign of King Mahendra, when the language was standardized and promoted as the national language of Nepal.