Khitan language

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2023)

Khitan
Kitan
Native to	Northeastern China, southeastern Mongolia, eastern Siberia
Region	Northern
Extinct	literary form in 1244 with the death of Yelü Chucai, last person known who could speak and write Khitan
Language family	Serbi–Mongolic? Para-Mongolic?[1] Xianbei? Khitanic? Khitan
Writing system	Khitan large script and Khitan small script
Official status
Official language in	Liao dynasty, Qara Khitai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zkt
Linguist List	zkt
Glottolog	kita1247

Khitan or Kitan ( in large script or in small, Khitai;^[2] Chinese: 契丹語, Qìdānyǔ), also known as Liao, is an extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century CE). It was the official language of the Liao Empire (907–1125) and the Qara Khitai (1124–1218). Owing to a narrow corpus of known words and a partially undeciphered script, the language has yet to be completely reconstructed.^[3]