Learn Odia Through Topics You Actually Care About

LingoBear creates short Odia passages on topics you choose. Tap any word for an instant English translation and build your vocabulary as you read. Indo-Aryan language of Odisha (formerly Orissa), the Odia abugida with its distinctive rounded shapes, classical language of India, ~38M speakers.

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What is Odia and why is it called Oriya?

Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), formerly called Oriya in English, is an eastern Indo-Aryan language with around 38 million speakers, mainly in the Indian state of Odisha. India officially renamed the language Odia in 2011 to align with the state's renaming from Orissa to Odisha. It was recognised as a classical language of India in 2014, joining Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

What's distinctive about the Odia script?

The Odia script is a Brahmic abugida descended from the Siddham script, but its letters acquired their distinctive rounded curves because they were originally inscribed on palm leaves — straight horizontal strokes would split the leaf. The script has 11 vowels and 36 consonants, plus a unique 'word-marker' diacritic ୍. Like other Indic scripts it builds syllables by combining consonants with vowel marks.