Romani (; also
Romany,
Gypsy, or
Gipsy; ) is any of several languages of the
Romani people belonging to the
Indo-Aryan branch of the
Indo-European language family. According to
Ethnologue, seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their own. The largest of these are
Vlax Romani (about 500,000 speakers),
Balkan Romani (600,000), and
Sinte Romani (300,000). Some Romani communities speak mixed languages based on the surrounding language with retained Romani-derived vocabulary – these are known by linguists as
Para-Romani varieties, rather than dialects of the Romani language itself.