Language code: pi

Technical information about ISO 639 language code pi

The table below provides technical details for the Pali language, designated by the pi code from the ISO 639-1 standard.

Code

pi

Name

Official

Pali

Native

पाऴि

Family
Indo-Aryan
Text direction

Left-to-Right

Related languages
SanskritMagadhi PrakritArdhamagadhiGandhari
Key facts
Canonical language of the Theravada Buddhist scriptures (Tipiṭaka)Classified as a Middle Indo-Aryan language within the Indo-European familyStill actively studied and chanted by Buddhist monastics and scholars worldwideWritten in numerous scripts, such as Brahmi, Devanagari, Sinhala, Burmese, Thai, Khmer and Roman transliterationRetains several archaic phonological and grammatical features lost in later Indo-Aryan languages.
Sample phrase

नमो, कच्चि ते कुशलं?

Character encodings

UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32

Supported in Localizely

Pali belongs to the Indo-European language family, specifically to the Indo-Aryan subgroup. It is recognized as a liturgical language and is widely studied due to its importance in Buddhist literature. Pali has been written in a variety of scripts depending on the region. The primary scripts include Devanagari, used in India and Nepal; Myanmar, used in Myanmar; Sinhala, used in Sri Lanka; and Thai, used in Thailand. Additionally, Pali has also been transcribed in other scripts such as Khmer, Lao, and Roman script, particularly in academic contexts.

Language presence globally

*The graph shows a rough estimate of Pali speakers in countries where it is an official or minority language.

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