Meitei language

Meitei, or Meetei (also Manipuri /mənɪˈpʊri/;[2][3] Meitheilon, Meeteilon, Meeʁteilon, from Meithei + -lon 'language'; Kathe)[4] is a Tibeto-Burman language and the predominant language and lingua franca of the state of Manipur in northeastern India. It is one of the official languages of the Government of India.

Manipuri, Meitheilon, Meeteilon, Kathe
Meitei language written in Meitei script.svg
'Meiteilon' in Meitei script
RegionNortheast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar
EthnicityMeitei and Pangal
Native speakers
1.76 million[1]
Early forms
Ancient Meitei
(? – 17th cent. AD)
  • Classical Meitei (18th – 19th cent. AD)
Official status
Official language in
Language codes
ISO 639-2mni
ISO 639-3Either:
mni – Meiteilon
omp – Ancient Meiteilon
omp Ancient Meitei language

Meitei is the most spoken Tibeto-Burman language of India and the most spoken language in Northeast India after Bengali and Assamese. In the 2011 census of India, there were 1.8 million native speakers of Meitei. Additionally, there are around 200,000 native speakers of Meitei abroad. Meiteilon is also spoken in the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripura and in Bangladesh and Burma (now Myanmar). It is currently classified as a "vulnerable language" by UNESCO.[5]

Meiteilon is a tonal language whose exact classification within Sino-Tibetan remains unclear. It has lexical resemblances to Kuki and Tangkhul Naga.[6]

It has been recognised (under the name Manipuri) by the Indian Union and has been included in the list of scheduled languages (included in the 8th schedule by the 71st amendment of the constitution in 1992). Meiteilon is taught as a subject up to the post-graduate level (Ph.D.) in some universities of India, apart from being a medium of instruction up to the undergraduate level in Manipur. Education in government schools is provided in Meiteilon through the eighth standard.[7]


The name Meitei or its alternate spelling Meithei is preferred by many native speakers of Meitei over Manipuri.[8] The term is derived from the Meitei word for the language Meitheirón (Meithei + -lon 'language').[8] Meithei may be a compound from 'man' + they 'separate'.[8] This term is used by most Western linguistic scholarship.[8] Meitei scholars use the term Mei(h)tei when writing in English and the term Meitheirón when writing in Meitei.[8] Chelliah (2015: 89) notes that the Meitei spelling has replaced the earlier Meithei spelling.[9]

The language (and people) is also referred to by the loconym Manipuri.[8] The term is derived from name of the state of Manipur.[8] Manipur itself has basis on Hindu epic Mahabharata, in which a shining diamond called mani ('jewel') in Sanskrit is thrown from the head of a snake god Vasuki, which spreads natural beauty throughout the land.[8] Manipuri is the official name of the language for the Indian government and is used by government institutions and non-Meitei authors.[8] The term Manipuri is also used to refer to the Bishnupriya and people.[8] Additionally, Manipuri, being a loconym, can refer to anything pertaining to Manipur state.

The term Meetei is used by Meitei speakers who want political autonomy from India, so-called "revivalists".[8]


The Meitei language exhibits a degree of regional variation; however, in recent years the broadening of communication, as well as intermarriage, has caused the dialectal differences to become relatively insignificant. The only exceptions to this occurrence are the speech differences of the dialects found in Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar.[10] The exact number of dialects of Meitei is unknown.[11]

The three main dialects of Meitei are: Meitei proper, Loi and Pangal. Differences between these dialects are primarily characterised by the extensions of new sounds and tonal shifts. Meitei proper is considered, of the three, to be the standard variety—and is viewed as more dynamic[clarification needed] than the other two dialects.[clarification needed] The brief table below compares some words in these three dialects:[12]

Standard Meitei Loi Pangal English translation
chaaba chaapa chaaba to eat
kappa kapma kappa to weep
saabiba saapipa saabiba to make
thamba thampa thamba to put
chuppiba chuppipa chuppiba to kiss

Devi (2002)[13] compares the Imphal, Andro, Koutruk, and Kakching dialects of Meitei.


Meitei language is an SOV language, though topics can be fronted.



The Meitei language is a tonal language. There is a controversy over whether there are two or three tones.[14]


Meitei uses the following sounds:[15]


Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop voiceless unaspirated p t k ʔ
voiced unaspirated b d ɡ
breathy-voiced dʒʱ
Fricative s h
Flap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j


Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e ɐ o
Low a

Note: the central vowel /ɐ/ is transcribed as <ə> in recent linguistic work on Meitei. However, phonetically it is never [ə], but more usually [ɐ]. It is assimilated to a following approximant: /ɐw/ = /ow/, /ɐj/ = [ej].

Phonological processesEdit

Velar deletionEdit


Grassman's lawEdit

Meitei has a dissimilatory process similar to Grassmann's law found in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, though occurring on the second aspirate.[16] Here, an aspirated consonant is deaspirated if preceded by an aspirated consonant (including /h/, /s/) in the previous syllable. The deaspirated consonants are then voiced between sonorants.

  • /tʰin-/ ('pierce') + /-khət/ ('upward') → /tʰinɡət/ ('pierce upwards')
  • /səŋ/ ('cow') + /kʰom/ ('udder') → /səŋɡom/ ('milk')
  • /hi-/ ('trim') + /-tʰok/ ('outward') → /hidok/ ('trim outwards')

Writing systemsEdit

Meitei scriptEdit

Meitei has its own script, which was used until the 18th century. Its earliest use is not known. Pamheiba, the ruler of the Manipur Kingdom who introduced Hinduism, banned the use of the Meitei script and adopted the Bengali script. Now in schools and colleges, the Bengali script is gradually being replaced by the Meitei script. The local organisations have played a major role in spreading awareness about their own script.


Between 1709 and the middle of the 20th century, the Meitei language was written using the Bengali script. During the 1940s and 1950s, Meitei scholars began campaigning to bring back the Old Meitei (Old Manipuri) alphabet. In 1976 at a writers conference, all the scholars finally agreed on a new version of the alphabet containing a number of additional letters to represent sounds not present in Meitei when the script was first developed. The current Meitei alphabet is a reconstruction of the ancient Meitei script.

Since the early 1980s, the Meitei alphabet has been taught in schools in Manipur


There are some texts from the Maring and Limbu tribes of Manipur, which were written in the Meitei script.

Latin scriptEdit

There exists an informal, but fairly consistent practical spelling of Meitei in Latin script. This spelling is used in the transcription of personal names and place names, and it is extensively used on the internet (Facebook, blogspots, etc.). It is also found in academic publications, for the spelling of Meitei book titles and the like (examples can be seen in the References, below). This spelling, on the whole, offers a transparent, unambiguous representation of the Meitei sound system, although the tones are usually not marked. It is "practical" in the sense that it does not use extra-alphabetical symbols, and can, therefore, be produced easily on any standard keyboard. The only point of ambiguity is found in the spelling of the vowels /ɐ/ and /a/, which are usually both written "a", except when they occur before an approximant (see table below). The vowel /a/ is sometimes written as "aa" to distinguish it from /ɐ/.

IPA Practical
/m/ m
/n/ n
/ŋ/ ng
/b/ b
/d/ d
/dʒ/ j
/ɡ/ g
/bʱ/ bh
/dʱ/ dh
/dʒʱ/ jh
/ɡʱ/ gh
/p/ p
/t/ t
/tʃ/ ch
/k/ k
/pʰ/ ph (rarely f)
/tʰ/ th
/kʰ/ kh
/s/ s or sh
/h/ h
/ɾ/ r
/l/ l
/w/ w
/j/ y
/ɐ/ a
/ɐj/ ei
/ɐw/ ou
/a/ a or aa
/aj/ ai
/aw/ ao
/e/ e
/i/ i (rarely ee)
/o/ o
/oj/ oi
/u/ u (rarely oo)
/uj/ ui


Bangladesh and India currently use the Eastern Bengali script.[1]


A sentence in Meitei language use the format Subject + Object + Verb for example in the sentence Ei chak chai(ꯑꯩ ꯆꯥꯛ ꯆꯥꯢ) which literally mean I eat rice here, "Ei"=I,"Chak"=Rice,"Chai"=eat. So the simplest form of a grammatically correct sentence is (S+O+V).

Number agreementEdit

Agreement in nouns and pronouns is expressed to clarify singular and plural cases through the addition of the suffixes -khoi (for personal pronouns and human proper nouns) and -sing (for all other nouns). Verbs associated with the pluralised nouns are unaffected. Examples are demonstrated below:[17]

Noun (Meitei) Noun (English) Example (Meitei) Example (English)
angaang baby angaang kappi Baby cries.
angaangsing babies angaangsing kappi Babies cry.

When adjectives are used to be more clear, Meitei utilises separate words and does not add a suffix to the noun. Examples are show in the chart below:[17]

Adjective (Meitei) Adjective (English) Example (Meitei) Example (English)
ama one mi ama laak’i A person comes.
khara some mi khara laak’i Some persons come.
mayaam many mi mayaam laak’i Many persons come.

Compound verbsEdit

Compound verbs are created by combining root verbs each ending with aspect markers. While the variety of suffixes is high, all compound verbs utilise one of two:[18]

Suffix English translation
-thok out/ come out
-ning To wish/ want/ desire


Language Root verb Suffix Aspect marker Combined form
Meitei tum -thok -le tumthokle
English sleep out/ come out perfect aspect has started sleeping
Meitei tum -ning -le tumningle
English sleep want perfect aspect has felt sleepy

Compound verbs can also be formed utilising both compound suffixes as well, allowing utterances such as pithokningle meaning "want to give out".

Number wordsEdit

Numeral Word Etymology Meitei Script
1 a-ma ~ a-maa "1" ꯑꯃꯥ
2 a-ni Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ni ꯑꯅꯤ
3 a-húm PTB *sum ꯑꯍꯨꯝ
4 ma-ri PTB *li ꯃꯔꯤ
5 ma-ngaa PTB *nga ꯃꯉꯥ
6 ta-ruk PTB *luk ꯇꯔꯨꯛ
7 ta-ret PTB *let ꯇꯔꯦꯠ
8 ni-paan “2-less” ꯅꯤꯄꯥꯟ
9 maa-pan “1-less” ꯃꯥꯄꯟ
10 ta-raa "10" ꯇꯔꯥ
11 taraa-maa-thoi “ten + 1-more” ꯇꯔꯥꯃꯥꯊꯣꯏ
12 taraa-ni-thoi “ten + 2-more” ꯇꯔꯥꯅꯤꯊꯣꯏ
13 taraa-húm-doi “ten + 3-more” ꯇꯔꯥꯍꯨꯝꯗꯣꯏ
14 taraa-mari “ten +4” ꯇꯔꯥꯃꯔꯤ
15 taraa-mangaa “ten +5” ꯇꯔꯥꯃꯉꯥ
16 taraa-taruk “ten +6” ꯇꯔꯥꯇꯔꯨꯛ
17 taraa-taret “ten +7” ꯇꯔꯥꯇꯔꯦꯠ
18 taraa-nipaan “ten +8” ꯇꯔꯥꯅꯤꯄꯥꯟ
19 taraa-maapan “ten +9” ꯇꯔꯥꯃꯥꯄꯟ
20 kun ~ kul ꯀꯨꯟ ~ ꯀꯨꯜ
30 *kun-taraa > kun-thraa “twenty + ten” ꯀꯨꯟꯊ꯭ꯔꯥ
40 ni-phú “two × score” ꯅꯤꯐꯨ
50 yaang-khéi “hundred-half” ꯌꯥꯡꯈꯩ
60 hum-phú “three × score” ꯍꯨꯝꯐꯨ
70 hum-phú-taraa “three × score + ten” ꯍꯨꯝꯐꯨꯇꯔꯥ
80 mari-phú “four × score” ꯃꯔꯤꯐꯨ
90 mari-phú-taraa “four × score + ten” ꯃꯔꯤꯐꯨꯇꯔꯥ
100 chaama “hundred × one” ꯆꯥꯃ
200 cha-ni “hundred × two” ꯆꯥꯅꯤ
300 cha-hum “hundred × three” ꯆꯥꯍꯨꯝ
400 cha-mri "hundred x four" ꯆꯥꯃ꯭ꯔꯤ
500 cha-mangaa "hundred x five" ꯆꯥꯃꯉꯥ
1000 lisíng ama “thousand × 1” ꯂꯤꯁꯤꯡ
10000 lisīng-taraa "thousand x 10" ꯂꯤꯁꯤꯡꯇꯔꯥ
100000 licha "hundred thousand" ꯂꯤꯆꯥ
1000000 licha-taraa "hundred thousand x 10" ꯂꯤꯆꯥꯇꯔꯥ
10000000 leepun "ten million" ꯂꯤꯄꯨꯟ
100000000 leepun-taraa "ten million x 10" ꯂꯤꯄꯨꯟꯇꯔꯥ
1000000000 leepot "billion" ꯂꯤꯄꯣꯠ
10000000000 leepot-taraa "billion x 10" ꯂꯤꯄꯣꯠꯇꯔꯥ
100000000000 leekei "hundred billion" ꯂꯤꯀꯩ
1000000000000 leekei-taraa "hundred billion x 10" ꯂꯤꯀꯩꯇꯔꯥ
10000000000000 pu-ama "ten trillion" ꯄꯨ ꯑꯃꯥ

Linguistic traditionEdit

The culture involved with the Meitei language is rooted deeply with pride and tradition based on having respect to the community elders. Young children who do not know about the tales that have been passed on from generation to generation are very rare. Regarding the history behind the ancient use of proverbs that defines the way conversation is held with the Meitei language, it is a way of expressing and telling stories and even using modern slang with old proverbs to communicate between one another.[19]

The Meitei language is known to be one of the oldest languages in northeastern India and has a lengthy 2000-year period of existence. It had its own script. The history behind the Meitei language itself comes primarily from the medieval period of northeastern India.[20]

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ a b c d "Meitei". Ethnologue. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. ^ "At a Glance". Official website of Manipur.
  4. ^ "Evolution of Meetei state- Emergence of Nongda Lairen Pakhangba :: Manipur News | Manipur Daily | Poknapham - Manipuri News!".
  5. ^ Moseley, C., ed. (2010). Atlas of the world's languages in danger (3rd ed). Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
  6. ^ Burling, Robbins (2003). "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Northeastern India". In Thurgood, Graham; LaPolla, Randy J. (eds.). The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 169–191. ISBN 0-7007-1129-5.
  7. ^ Devi, S. (May 2013). "Is Manipuri an Endangered Language?" (PDF). Language in India. 13 (5): 520–533.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chelliah (1997: 2)
  9. ^ Chelliah (2015: 89)
  11. ^ Haokip, P. (April 2011). "The Languages of Manipur: A Case Study of the Kuki-Chin Languages". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 34 (1): 86–118.
  13. ^ Devi, L. Manimala. 2002. A comparative study of Imphal, Andro, Koutruk and Kakching dialects of Meiteiron. (Doctoral dissertation, Canchipur: Manipur University; 273pp.)
  14. ^ a b LaPolla, Randy J. (2000). "Book review: A grammar of Meitei, by S. L. Chelliah". Lingua. Elsevier. 110 (4): 299–304. doi:10.1016/s0024-3841(99)00037-6.
  15. ^ Chelliah, S. L. (1997). Meitei Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 17–21.
  16. ^ Chelliah (1997)
  17. ^ a b Singh, S. Indrakumar (November 2013). "Agreements in Manipuri" (PDF). Language in India. 13 (11): 216–231.
  18. ^ a b Devi, M. Bidyarani (May 2014). "Compound Verbs in Manipuri" (PDF). Language in India. 14 (5): 66–70.
  19. ^ Betholia, C. (August 2008). "Manipuri Culture Seen Through Proverbs". Indian Folklife (30): 4–5.
  20. ^ Singh, T. D. (April 2014). "Phonological System of Medieval Manipuri" (PDF). Language in India. 14 (4): 56–68.


  • Budha, W. (1992). Indigenous games of the Meiteis. Manipur: Wangkeimayum Publications.


  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (1997). A grammar of Meitei. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-19-564331-3.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). Early Meitei manuscripts. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 59–71). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2002). A glossary of 39 basic words in archaic and modern Meitei. In C. I. Beckwith (Ed.), Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages: PIATS 2000: Tibetan studies: Proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000 (pp. 189–190). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2004). "Polysemy through metonymy: The case of Meitei pi 'grandmother'". Studies in Language. 28 (2): 363–386. doi:10.1075/sl.28.2.04che.
  • Chelliah, Shobhana L. (2015). "Is Manipur a linguistic area?". Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics. 2 (1): 87–109. doi:10.1515/jsall-2015-0004. S2CID 130962163.

External linksEdit