Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 24, 2026

Kaike language

Magar Kaike is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal. Ethnologue classifies it as a West Bodish language.

Last revised
Jul 24, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
461 w
Citations
5
Source
Kaike
Magar Kaike
Native toNepal
Ethnicity2,000 (2011)1
Native speakers
50 (2011 census)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3kzq
Glottologkaik1246
ELPKaike

Magar Kaike is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal. Ethnologue classifies it as a West Bodish language.

Distribution

Kaike is a nepali magar language spoken in Shahartara, Samteling, Tupatara, Tarakot, Namdel and Belawa villages of kaike Rural Municipality, Dolpa District, Karnali Province, Nepal (Ethnologue).

Linguistic contact

Honda (2008)2 notes that Kaike shares many words with Tamangic, but is not part of Tamangic proper. It is also in contact with Tichurong, a divergent Tibetic lect spoken near the Kaike-speaking areas.3 Zemp (2023) discusses the heavy influence of Tichurong on Kaike, but notes that Kaike has a Tamangic base.4

Lexicon

Honda (2008) lists the following Kaike words.

No. Gloss Kaike
1 gold mar
2 cow mi
3 blood kah
4 black Myanma-
5 red loma
6 green piŋgma
7 milk cow Ne
8 thread rup
9 heart diŋg
10 (be) dry khār-
11 snow liŋ
12 hen kā:
13 egg kā:-pum
14 lay eggs phum-
15 excrement khyi
16 one ti:
17 nose
18 to rest nā-
19 nasal mucus nap
20 seven ne
21 thin bā-
22 eye mi:
23 name min
24 fire me
25 tongue lai
26 month
27 ladder li
28 heavy li-
29 break (e.g., firewood) kyut-
30 plough, dig khoə-
31 borrow/lend khyi-
32 field khye
33 chest gu
34 borrow ŋan-
35 nest cāŋ
36 bridge cām
37 daughter came
38 hang, tie cun-
39 knead cyen-
40 hair cham
41 lift thi-
42 measure (e.g., length) kāt-
43 portion kāl
44 burn ko-
45 weigh kot-
46 shake khār-
47 feed khoə:-
48 grandfather khye
49 suck ŋup-
50 cook, put on the stove cu:-
51 now cõ:
52 count jyer-
53 what tai
54 receive tā:-
55 post, pillar tā:
56 spread tit-
57 this year tiriŋ
58 meet do:-
59 need to toə-
60 today tyā
61 full nāŋ-
62 tomorrow nāpcye
63 garlic noə
64 break (itr.) noŋ-
65 fear nyin-
66 go
67 marker of hearsay ru
68 village nām
69 dog khyu
70 fly (insect) baraŋ
71 fish ŋā
72 foot, leg le
73 grind ra:-
74 cliff ra:
75 four li
76 flatten lep-
77 see raŋ-
78 smile, laugh rai-
79 penis lu
80 forget let-
81 rice
82 flour rā:pi
83 buckwheat barau:
References

References

  1. Kaike at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Honda, Isao. 2008. Some observations on the relationship between Kaike and Tamangic. Nepalese Linguistics 23: 85-116.
  3. Honda, Isao. 2018. Preliminary report on Tichyurong Tibetan (Dolpa, Nepal). Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University.
  4. Zemp, Marius. 2023. Tichurong-Tibetic influence in the grammar of Kaike (Nepal). 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.