Guaraní is an official language of Paraguay alongside Spanish and belongs to the Tupi–Guaraní language family.
Paraguayan Guaraní is unusual in the Americas because an Indigenous language is spoken broadly across the entire population, not only within one Indigenous community. It is used in homes, media, education, politics, and everyday conversation. Many Paraguayans use both Guaraní and Spanish, producing widespread bilingualism and vocabulary exchange.
The language’s roots predate European colonization. Jesuit missionaries used Guaraní extensively in their communities during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, helping establish written traditions and religious texts. Paraguay’s constitution granted Guaraní official status alongside Spanish in 1992.
Guaraní is not the same as Quechua or Aymara, which belong to different language families and are mainly associated with the Andes. The name Guaraní can refer broadly to a group of related languages, while Paraguayan Guaraní is the best-known national variety.