Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the northern parts of India.
Hindi got its name from the Persian word Hind, meaning ‘land of the Indus River’.
Hindi is the first language of over 43% of the population in India (around 528 million speakers)
If second language and third language speakers are included, the total number of Hindi speakers are over 691 million (57% of the population).
Hindi is the official language of India, English being the other official language. The rest (such as Punjabi and Tamil) are regional languages.
Hindi is also spoken in some countries outside India, eg. Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago.
In the 2015 US census data, Hindi emerged as the largest Indian language spoken in the US, with 650,000 speakers.
You’ll find many familiar words in English which are either Hindi or of Hindi origin, eg. guru, jungle, khaki, karma, yoga, bungalow, cheetah, loot, maharaja, mantra, punch (drink), pyjamas, pundit, shampoo, typhoon, thug and avatar.