Gujarati
Americannoun
noun
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a member of a people of India living chiefly in Gujarat
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the state language of Gujarat, belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family
adjective
Usage
What is Gujarati? Gujarati is a language spoken in western India, particularly in the state of Gujarat, which is located on India’s western coast.Gujarati is also used to mean the speakers of this language and the citizens of Gujarat.Gujarati is an Indic language, coming from the same language family as Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, and many other languages spoken in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. According to the 2011 Indian Census, Gujarati is spoken as a first language by over 55 million people and is the sixth most popular language in India. Nearly 4.6 percent of the Indian population speaks Gujarati as a first language.Relative to the other languages spoken in India, Gujarati is a young language, tracing back only to the 1100s. The earliest form of written Gujarati appeared in the 1185 narrative poem Bharateśvara-bāhubali-rāsa by Śālibhadra.Like several other Indian languages, spoken Gujarati is heavily based on Sanskrit and written Gujarati is based on the Devanagari script used by other Indic languages. Gujarati is written from left to right with an alphabet of 47 letters.
Etymology
Origin of Gujarati
1600–10; < Hindi < Sanskrit Gurjara Gujarat
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.
“What she was doing was not about enlightenment or operating in a different dimension,” Gujarati said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
District Judge Diane Gujarati in Brooklyn said that a lengthy prison term was necessary to prevent Daedone from committing further crimes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
His close ally and fellow Gujarati, Home Minister Amit Shah, welcomed the Games announcement as "a day of immense joy and pride".
From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025
At Vegetarian Brown Girls in north London, the mother-daughter duo serves home-cooked Gujarati food known to make diners' eyes well with memories.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2025
Aru’s mother had grown up speaking Gujarati, a language from the state of Gujarat.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
