Hamito-Semitic languages

Afroasiatic
Geographic distribution	Horn of Africa, North Africa, Sahel, West Asia
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Proto-language	Proto-Afroasiatic
Subdivisions	Berber Chadic Cushitic Egyptian Omotic Semitic
ISO 639-2 / 5
Glottolog	afro1255
Distribution of the Afro-Asiatic languages; pale yellow signifies areas without any languages in that family

Afroasiatic (Afro-Asiatic), also known as Afrasian and traditionally as Hamito-Semitic (Chamito-Semitic) or Semito-Hamitic, is a large language family of about 300 languages and dialects. It includes languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel.

Afroasiatic languages have over 350 million native speakers, the fourth largest number of any language family (after Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan and Niger–Congo). The phylum has six branches: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic and Semitic.

By far the most widely spoken Afroasiatic language is Arabic. A language within the Semitic branch, it includes Modern Standard Arabic as well as spoken colloquial varieties. Arabic has around 290 million native speakers, who are concentrated primarily in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Malta.

Other widely spoken Afroasiatic languages include:

In addition to languages spoken today, Afroasiatic includes several important ancient languages, such as Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew and Old Aramaic. It is debated when and where the original homeland of the Afroasiatic family existed. Proposed locations include North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Eastern Sahara and the Levant.