DRAVIDIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Dravidian mean? 

• DRAVIDIAN (noun)
  The noun DRAVIDIAN has 2 senses:

1. a member of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of India

2. a large family of languages spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka

  Familiarity information: DRAVIDIAN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRAVIDIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A member of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of India

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Dravidian" is a kind of...):

Indian (a native or inhabitant of India)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Dravidian"):

Tulu (a member of a Dravidian people living on the southwestern coast of India)

Toda (a member of a pastoral people living in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India)

Telugu (a member of the people in southeastern India (Andhra Pradesh) who speak the Telugu language)

Tamil (a member of the mixed Dravidian and Caucasian people of southern India and Sri Lanka)

Savara (a member of the Dravidian people living in southern India)

Malto (a member of the Dravidian people living in northern Bengal in eastern India)

Kui (a member of the Dravidian people living in southeastern India)

Kota; Kotar (a member of the Dravidian people living in the Nilgiri Hills in southern India)

Kolam (a member of a formerly tribal people now living in south central India)

Canarese; Kanarese (a member of a Kannada-speaking group of people living chiefly in Kanara in southern India)

Gond (a member of a formerly tribal people in south central India)

Gadaba (a member of an agricultural people in southeastern India)

Badaga (a member of an agricultural people of southern India)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large family of languages spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Dravidian; Dravidian language; Dravidic

Hypernyms ("Dravidian" is a kind of...):

natural language; tongue (a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Dravidian"):

South-Central Dravidian (a Dravidian language spoken primarily in south central India)

Central Dravidian (a Dravidian language spoken primarily in central India)

North Dravidian (a Dravidian language spoken primarily in eastern India)

South Dravidian (a Dravidian language spoken primarily in southern India)