Adjacent Words

Dravidian definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a member of one of the aboriginal races of India (pushed south by Caucasians and now mixed with them)
2: a large family of languages spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka [syn: Dravidian, Dravidic, Dravidian language]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Sanskrit Dr?vi?a Date: 1856 1. a member of an ancient dark-skinned people of southern India 2. Dravidian languages • Dravidian adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a member of a dark-skinned aboriginal people of S. India and Sri Lanka (including the Tamils and Kanarese). 2 any of the group of languages spoken by this people. --adj. of or relating to this people or group of languages. Etymology: Skr. Dravida, a province of S. India

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dravidian Dra*vid"i*an, a. [From Skr. Dr[=a]vi[dsdot]a, the name of the southern portion of the peninsula of India.] (Ethnol.) Of or pertaining to the Dravida. Dravidian languages, a group of languages of Southern India, which seem to have been the idioms of the natives, before the invasion of tribes speaking Sanskrit. Of these languages, the Tamil is the most important.