An interactive phylogenetic tree of the Indo-European language family — ~3 billion speakers across 12 branches. Hover over any language to see example words. Click branches to expand/collapse.
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) was spoken ~4500–2500 BCE, probably on the Pontic steppe (Kurgan hypothesis) or Anatolia. Comparative linguistics — systematically comparing cognates like pater/padre/père/Vater/father/pita/pitá — reconstructed PIE grammar and phonology before any written records existed. The family includes ~449 languages and ~3.2 billion native speakers today.