پنجابی
Punjabi, the ancient, vibrant, and widely spoken Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region, the land of five rivers, a vast and fertile historical and cultural territory that spans the border between the modern nation-states of Pakistan and India, encompassing the Pakistani province of Punjab, the Indian state of Punjab, and significant populations of Punjabi speakers in the neighboring regions of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Delhi, as well as a large, prosperous, and culturally active diaspora community spread across the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, and the countries of the Persian Gulf, constituting one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over one hundred and twenty million native speakers, making it the tenth most spoken language globally, and representing a linguistic and cultural heritage of extraordinary richness, diversity, and historical depth. The word پنجابی is formed from the Persian noun "پنجاب" (Panjāb) meaning the land of five waters or five rivers, from "پنج" (panj) meaning five and "آب" (āb) meaning water, together with the Persian and Urdu adjectival and nominal suffix "ی" (-ī) meaning pertaining to, belonging to, or a person or thing associated with, together forming a term that literally means "of the Punjab" or "belonging to the land of five rivers" and idiomatically designating the language, the people, the culture, and everything that pertains to this ancient and vital region at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. In the Urdu language and in the cultural, political, and social consciousness of Pakistan and the broader South Asian region, پنجابی occupies a position of immense and multifaceted significance, representing the language of the largest ethnic and linguistic group in Pakistan, the language of the majority of the population of the most populous and politically influential province of the country, the language of a rich and ancient literary tradition encompassing Sufi poetry, folk ballads, epic romances, modern literature, and popular music and film, and a language that is inextricably intertwined with the history, identity, and daily life of the Urdu-speaking communities of Pakistan and northern India, where Punjabi and Urdu have coexisted, influenced each other, and shared speakers, spaces, and cultural forms for centuries.