Malayali
/ˌmʌləˈjɑːli/noun
A native or inhabitant of Kerala, or a speaker of Malayalam.
Did you know?Malayali comes from Malayalam, the language/region name tied to Malabar’s hill-country geography, not any occult root—but it shows how place names can harden into identity words over time.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Dravidian
PDr
*mal-
“hill, mountain”
Early Dravidian / Local usage
Dravidian
mala
“hill or mountain”
Classical / Medieval South Indian usage
Tamil/South Indian
malai
“hill, mountain”
Medieval Malayalam
Malayalam
malayāḷi
“person of the hills; later, a Malayalam-speaking person”
Modern English
English
Malayali
“a native or inhabitant of Kerala, especially a Malayalam speaker”