Manipuri

About Manipuri

Manipuri, also called Meitei or Meiteilon, is the language of the Meitei people of Manipur in northeastern India. It was spoken by about 1.5 million people in India's 2001 census. It is the official language of Manipur and one of the 22 languages recognised in India's constitution. UNESCO lists it as vulnerable.

Manipuri is a Sino-Tibetan language and is tonal. It has its own script, Meitei Mayek, which has returned to schools and official use in recent decades, while the Bengali script was used for it for a long time and is still common.

FamilySino-Tibetan
Speakersabout 1.5 million (2001)
Official inIndia, regionally (Manipur)
Statusvulnerable (UNESCO)
ScriptMeitei Mayek, Bengali script
Codemni (ISO 639-3)

Speaker number: Ethnologue, citing the 2001 census, via Wikidata. Retrieved 26 September 2026.

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