Kawi language

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{{language |name=Kawi |nativename=Bhāṣa Kawi, Old Javanese |states=Java, Bali, Madura, Lombok, Indonesia |region=Southeast Asian Islands |extinct=literary language, archaic by 14th century |familycolor=Austronesian |fam2=Malayo-Polynesian |fam3=Western Malayo-Polynesian |fam4=Sundic |iso2=kaw|iso3=kaw}}

Kawi (from Sanskrit: kāvya, "poet") is a language from the islands of Java, Bali and Lombok. It is actually a literary language based on Old Javanese, but heavily interlarded with Sanskrit loanwords.

The language has its own unique alphabets for writing, including Tulisan Bali, a script that evolved from Pallava script. Kawi is extinct as a spoken language, but is still used in Bali, Lombok and to some extent in Java as a literary language. It is also the main language used for the Lombok cultural practice of reading and writing literature on the leaves of the lontar palm.

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