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 Dra·vid·ic []. 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 Words From

• pre-Dra·vid·i·an adjective
• pre-Dra·vid·ic 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

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

Kannada, the language that Google’s fact box said was India’s ugliest, is part of a family of Dravidian languages that are native to southern India and go back thousands of years.

From New York Times

"Dravidian ideology runs counter to the Hindu fundamentalist ideology of the BJP. Even if it has some traction among some sections it is highly unlikely to convert to votes here," says KN Arun.

From BBC