Malayalee
/ˌmæl.əˈliː/noun
A person from Kerala or a speaker of Malayalam.
Did you know?Malayalee comes from Malayalam, the name of Kerala’s language, which itself is commonly explained as 'the language of the hills'—from malai/mala ('hill') plus alam ('place/region').
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Dravidian
PD
*mala-
“hill, mountain”
Proto-Dravidian
PD
*alam
“place, region”
Early Tamil / Old Malayalam
Dravidian
malai + alam
“hill + region; the hill country / land of hills”
Medieval Malayalam
Dravidian
Malayāḷam
“the Malayalam language; the language of the hill region”
Modern English
English
Malayalee
“a person from Kerala or a Malayalam speaker”