Dhivehi

Dhivehi, also known as Maldivian, is the official language of the Maldives and is spoken by the Maldivian people both within the islands and in diaspora communities around the world. It is used in education, government, media, and daily communication, making it central to Maldivian national identity.

Linguistically, Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language in the Indo-European family. It belongs to the Southern branch of Indo-Aryan and shows historical contact with Sinhala, Arabic, Persian, Tamil, and English. The modern writing system is Thaana, written from right to left. Thaana emerged in the 17th–18th centuries, replacing the earlier Divehi Akuru script.

There are regional dialects across the atolls, with a standard form used in schooling and media that is largely based on the Malé dialect. While mutually intelligible for the most part, dialect differences affect pronunciation, vocabulary, and some grammatical usage.

Vocabulary incorporates many loanwords from Arabic (especially religious terms), as well as from Persian, Sinhalese, Tamil, and English, reflecting centuries of trade, religion, and modern contact. Dhivehi has animating literary and oral traditions, and contemporary writing includes both traditional prose and modern journalism.

Dhivehi is not considered endangered; it is actively used in education, administration, and media in the Maldives and among Maldivian communities abroad.