Marathi
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Usage
What does Marathi mean? Marathi is a language spoken mainly in Maharashtra, a state in the Republic of India, a southern Asian country. Marathi is a member of the Indic family of languages, which includes languages spoken in Northern India, such as Hindi and Bengali. Marathi is the state language of Maharashtra, a central-western Indian state. Nearly all of the world’s speakers of Marathi live in Maharashtra and its neighboring states or are Maharashtrian immigrants who moved elsewhere, such as to the island of Mauritius.
Etymology
Origin of Marathi
First recorded in 1820–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The research team began reviewing folk songs, poems, and myths written or performed in Marathi, some dating back to the 13th century.
From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2026
Digvijay Patil, a PhD student in archeology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, noticed repeated mentions of unusual plants while studying Sanskrit and Marathi texts related to sacred sites.
From Science Daily • Feb. 1, 2026
For example, MahaVISTAAR, an AI app run by the Maharashtra government, delivers vital agricultural information in the local Marathi language, reaching over 15 million farmers.
From BBC • Dec. 10, 2025
"The issue of Marathi language and culture is close to peoples' hearts," says Prashant Dixit, a former political journalist who has reported on the state for over two decades.
From BBC • Jul. 10, 2025
The subsequent quotations are from the same source but I have sometimes slightly modified them and compared them with the original, though I have no pretension to be a Marathi scholar.
From Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2 by Eliot, Charles, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
