The
Pyu language (, ; also
Tircul language) is an extinct
Sino-Tibetan language that was mainly spoken in present-day central
Burma (Myanmar) in the first millennium
CE. It was the
vernacular of the
Pyu city-states, which thrived between the second century
BCE and the 9th century CE. Its usage declined starting in the late 9th century when the
Bamar people of the
Kingdom of Nanzhao began to overtake the
Pyu city-states. The language was still in use, at least in royal inscriptions of the
Pagan Kingdom if not in popular vernacular, until the late 12th century. It became extinct in the 13th century, completing the rise of the
Burmese language, the language of the Pagan Kingdom, in Upper Burma, the former Pyu realm.