Georgian (ქართული ენა, kartuli ena, pronounced [ˈkʰartʰuli ˈena]) is the most widely spoken Kartvelian language.

[1] Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages (Megrelian and Laz) and more distantly to Svan.

Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspirated, voiced, and ejective stops, affricates, and fricatives.

The Mkhedruli script, dominant in modern usage, corresponds closely to Georgian phonemes and has no case distinction, though it employs a capital-like effect called Mtavruli for titles and inscriptions.

Georgian is an agglutinative language with a complex verb structure that can include up to eight morphemes, exhibiting polypersonalism.

Georgian's rich derivation system allows for extensive noun and verb formation from roots, with many words featuring initial consonant clusters.

The Georgian writing system has evolved from ancient scripts to the current Mkhedruli, used for most purposes.

The language has a robust grammatical framework with unique features such as syncope in morphophonology and a left-branching syntax.

Georgian's vocabulary is highly derivational, allowing for diverse word formations, while its numeric system is vigesimal.

The most famous work of this period is the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin, written by Shota Rustaveli in the 12th century.

In 1629, a certain Nikoloz Cholokashvili authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione and the Dittionario giorgiano e italiano.

[9] On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic.

[22] Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase.

[34] Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g. ბგერა bgera 'sound', ცხოვრება tskhovreba 'life', and წყალი ts’q’ali 'water'.

Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan.

The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of the Georgian Orthodox Church and together are called Khutsuri 'priest alphabet'.

Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, called Mtavruli ('title' or 'heading'), is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders.

Georgian has seven noun cases: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, instrumental, adverbial and vocative.

The ending -eli is a particle of nobility, comparable to French de, Dutch van, German von or Polish -ski.