Prakrit

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Prakrit \Pra"krit\, n. [Skr. pr[=a]k[.r]ta original, natural,
     usual, common, vulgar.]
     Any one of the popular dialects descended from, or akin to,
     Sanskrit; -- in distinction from the Sanskrit, which was used
     as a literary and learned language when no longer spoken by
     the people. Pali is one of the Prakrit dialects.


     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Prakrit
       n 1: any of the modern Indic languages
       2: any of the vernacular Indic languages of north and central
          India (as distinguished from Sanskrit) recorded from the
          3rd century BC to the 4th century AD