Classical Nahuatl

Classical Nahuatl, also known simply as Aztec or Nahuatl, is a set of variants of Nahuatl spoken in the Valley of Mexico and central Mexico as a lingua franca at the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Indigenous languages, including Classical Nahuatl, remained dominant until the time when New Spain (Mexico) became independent in 1821. However, during the subsequent centuries, it was largely displaced by Spanish and evolved into some of the modern Nahuan languages in use (other modern dialects descend more directly from other 16th-century variants). Although classified as an extinct language, Classical Nahuatl has survived through a multitude of written sources transcribed by Nahua peoples and Spaniards in the Latin script.

Classical Nahuatl may be called Codical Nahuatl (when referring to the variants employed in the Mesoamerican codices through the medium of the Aztec script) or Colonial Nahuatl (if written in post-conquest documents in the Latin alphabet).