Maasai or
Masai (;
autonym: ɔl Maa) is an
Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern
Kenya and Northern
Tanzania by the
Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other
Maa varieties:
Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the
Samburu people of central Kenya,
Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and
Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as .