Languages

Mongolian

MOHN-gol khel

Also Known As Khalkha Mongolian The standard Khalkha dialect is often used synonymously with Mongolian as the national standard.

Language

Citation Formats

General Reference

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

APA Style

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

BibTeX

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

Mongolian is the principal Mongolic language and the official language of Mongolia, spoken by five to six million people across Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Qinghai in China, Buryatia in Russia, and the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan. Modern Mongolian evolved from Middle Mongol, the language of the thirteenth and fourteenth century Mongol Empire, and is written today in Mongolian Cyrillic in Mongolia and in the traditional vertical Mongolian script in China.

Facts

ISO 639-3 Code

mn 1

Speaker Count

5,500,000 1

2020-2022 estimates range five to six million across all dialects; 5.5 million used as a midpoint.

Status

Living 1

Attested From (Year)

from 1224 1

The Stele of Yisungge, the earliest surviving Mongolian text, is most often dated to 1224 or 1225.

Region