The Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Theravada Buddhist canon — preserved across South and Southeast Asia in monastic recitation.
Where it was spoken
Pali was a Middle Indic vernacular of northern India around the 3rd century BCE, codified as the language of the Theravada Buddhist scriptures (the Tipiṭaka). It travelled with Theravada Buddhism to Sri Lanka, then to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, where it remains the liturgical language to this day.
What it sounded like
Phonologically simpler than Sanskrit — consonant clusters reduced, the three sibilants merged into one, and the vocative case largely disappeared. A “popular” language in Buddha’s time, deliberately chosen so the teaching could spread beyond the Sanskrit-educated elite.
How it’s written
No native Pali script — texts are written in whatever script is local: Sinhala in Sri Lanka, Burmese in Myanmar, Khmer in Cambodia, Thai in Thailand, Devanagari for academic editions. The same words look completely different across borders.
Find more languages by letter
Pali starts with P and ends with I. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Pali":