By Quick facts
- Name in Gujarati
- ગુજરાતી (gujarātī)
- Language family
- Indo-European › Indo-Aryan
- Writing system
- Gujarati script — abugida (syllabic), left to right
- Where it began
- Gujarat
- Main countries
- India
- ISO 639-3 code
guj
Where Gujarati ranks
Gujarati is the 33rd most-spoken language in the world by total speakers [1,2]. Here it is among its neighbours in the ranking, on one scale.
- 30Thai71M
- 31Javanese69M
- 32Italian66M
- 33Gujarati62M
- 34Kannada59M
- 35Levantine Arabic58M
- 36Sudanese Arabic54M
“How are you?” in Gujarati
તમે કેમ છો?
tame kem cho?
How are you?
Phrases: Omniglot — Useful phrases in Gujarati [7]. Other languages' phrases come from the sources on their own pages. Synthetic voice (ElevenLabs Eleven v3, voice “Sia”). Pronunciation is approximate and may not match a native speaker; Cantonese and Wu Chinese are not voiced because the model reads Chinese characters with Mandarin sounds.
A short history
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language officially recognised in the Indian constitution; most speakers live in Gujarat, with large communities in the United Kingdom and the United States[3].
The earliest known manuscript in the Gujarati script dates from 1592, and the script first appeared in print in a 1797 advertisement[4]. Mahatma Gandhi wrote his autobiography in Gujarati, serialised in his weekly Navajivan from 1925 to 1929[5].
The design of Gujarati script
A Brahmic abugida derived from Devanagari, with one striking change: it drops the headline. The earliest known manuscript in the script dates from 1592, and it first appeared in print in a 1797 advertisement[4,6].
Abugida (syllabic). Each consonant carries a vowel, changed by marks attached to it.
- Kind
- Abugida (syllabic)
- Direction
- Left to right
- Took shape
- By the 16th century CE; the earliest known Gujarati-script manuscript dates from 1592
- Line of descent
- Brahmi → Gupta → Nagari → Gujarati
- Traditional surface
- Paper
- Own digits
- ૦ ૧ ૨ ૩ ૪ ૫ ૬ ૭ ૮ ૯
- Also writes
- No other language among the 38 is written mainly in Gujarati script.
- Brahmi
- Gupta
- Nagari
- Gujarati
Devanagari without the line
Gujarati letters are close cousins of Devanagari ones with the headline removed, which gives the script its rounded, open look[4].
A merchant's hand
For centuries the headline-free script was used for letters and account books, while literature was more often written in Devanagari[4].
Explore the letters
a
1 / 15 · playing — pick a letter to stop
Numbers in Gujarati script
Gujarati's relatives among the 38
Gujarati belongs to the Indo-European family (Indo-Aryan). These are the other languages with 50 million or more speakers in the same family; the closest — in the same branch — come first.
- हिन्दीHindiSame branch: Indo-Aryan · 611M
- বাংলাBengaliSame branch: Indo-Aryan · 274M
- اُردُوUrduSame branch: Indo-Aryan · 246M
- मराठीMarathiSame branch: Indo-Aryan · 99M
- پنجابیWestern PunjabiSame branch: Indo-Aryan · 90M
- EnglishEnglishGermanic · 1.5B
- españolSpanishRomance · 561M
- françaisFrenchRomance · 334M
- portuguêsPortugueseRomance · 269M
- русскийRussianBalto-Slavic · 210M
- DeutschGermanGermanic · 133M
- فارسیPersian (Iranian)Iranian · 82M
- italianoItalianRomance · 66M
- भोजपुरीBhojpuriIndo-Aryan (Bihari) · 53M
Gujarati across the hub
The main page compares all 38 languages. Each link opens it on Gujarati.
- Preview it in the explorer →with all 38 side by side
- Hear it in the voice tour →“How are you?” in every language, spoken in turn
- Trace its script's family tree →from the first alphabets and Chinese oracle bones
- Compare its digits →ten ways to write 0–9
- See its share of speakers →an interactive breakdown by script, family and region
Frequently asked questions
How many people speak Gujarati?
About 62 million people speak Gujarati: 58 million as a first language and 5 million as a second, according to Ethnologue's 2026 figures. That makes it the 33rd most-spoken language in the world by total speakers.
What script is Gujarati written in?
Gujarati is written in the Gujarati script, an abugida: each consonant carries a vowel, changed by marks attached to it. It runs left to right.
How do you say "How are you?" in Gujarati?
In Gujarati, "How are you?" is તમે કેમ છો? (tame kem cho?).
Where is Gujarati spoken?
Gujarati is spoken mainly in India. It began in Gujarat.
How old is the Gujarati script?
The Gujarati script was in use by the 16th century; the earliest known manuscript in it dates from 1592. Its family line runs Brahmi → Gupta → Nagari → Gujarati.
Sources
- Ethnologue — What are the top 200 most spoken languages? (2026)
- Wikipedia — List of languages by total number of speakers (Ethnologue 2026 figures, retrieved October 2026)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Gujarati language
- Omniglot — Gujarati alphabet
- Mahatma Gandhi Foundation (mkgandhi.org) — 100 years of Gandhi's autobiography
- The Unicode Standard 17.0, chapter 12: South and Central Asia-I (Devanagari, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada)
- Omniglot — Useful phrases in Gujarati
Checked October 25, 2026. Speaker numbers are Ethnologue's 2026 estimates, which count each language separately (Arabic and Chinese varieties are listed one by one). Maps shade whole countries, not regions within them. Found an error? Tell us.
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