A Sinitic language of the dispersed Hakka people — historically labelled "guest families" — spoken across southern China, Taiwan, and a wide diaspora.
Where it’s spoken
Hakka speakers descend from medieval migrations southward from northern China, settling in scattered enclaves across Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Taiwan. Large diaspora communities live in Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritius, and Suriname. Roughly 44 million speakers worldwide.
What it sounds like
Six tones in the most common Meixian standard, with both stopped (entering tone) and smooth syllables. Phonologically conservative — preserves the final consonants -p, -t, -k and the nasal codas -m, -n, -ng that Mandarin has merged or dropped.
How it’s written
Standard Chinese characters are used for most writing, supplemented with locally-invented or borrowed characters for distinctively Hakka words. A Latin-based Pha̍k-fa-sṳ romanisation was developed by Basel missionaries in the 19th century.
Find more languages by letter
Hakka starts with H and ends with A. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Hakka":