ˌəpəˈbrəmshə noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Sanskrit apabhraṁśa, literally, fall
: a stage of an Indic language characterized by linguistic changes not found in a more conservative stage that serves as a standard of correctness:
a. : non-Sanskrit linguistic forms in Indic speech prior to approximately the 3d century A.D.
b. : an Indic language spoken in approximately the 3d to the 5th centuries A.D. and differing from the literary Prakrit
c. : an Indic language that was used as a vehicle for poetry from approximately the 6th to the 12th centuries and that shows linguistic changes not found in Prakrit