Languages

Amharic

Citation Formats

General Reference

Language Atlas. "Amharic." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/amharic.

APA Style

Language Atlas. (n.d.). Amharic. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/amharic

BibTeX

@misc{languageatlas-amharic,
  author = {Language Atlas},
  title = {Amharic},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/amharic},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The largest living language written in the Ge'ez script and, alongside Oromo, one of the two most widely spoken languages of Ethiopia, where it serves as the federal working language. Amharic belongs to the Ethiopian Semitic (South Semitic) branch of Afro-Asiatic, related to but distinct from the older liturgical language Ge'ez.

Facts

ISO 639-3 Code

amh 1

Status

Living 2

Statutory working language of the Ethiopian federal government since the 1994 constitution.

Region

Ethiopia 2

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Ge'ez

This source names Ge'ez directly: "largest living language written in the Ge'ez script and, alongside Oromo, one of the two most widely spoken languages of Ethiopia, where it serves as the federal working language."

Source Glottolog

Tigrinya

This source names Amharic directly: "Related to Amharic within the same South Semitic branch, but not mutually intelligible with it."

Source Glottolog