Dakhini (Urdu: دکنی) also spelled Dakkhani and Deccani, arose as a Muslim court language of the Deccan Plateau ca. 1300 AD in ways similar to Urdu. It is similar to Urdu in its mixture of Persian with a Hindi base, but differs in its strong influence from Arabic, Urdu, Konkani and Marathi, and its Telugu surroundings in Andhra Pradesh. There is an extensive literature.

Dakhini is spoken in the Deccan plateau region of India. Just as Urdu developed in Lucknow, Dakhini developed in Deccan plateau quite surprisingly not from Urdu but parallel to it, due to the mixing of various Indian based languages, Arabic and Persian based languages. The term Dakhini is perhaps an umbrella for a group of dialects spoken by certain communities of Muslims in the Deccan region.

Dakhini was the lingua franca of the Muslims of Deccan, chiefly living in Hyderabad state, Mysore state and the Hyderabad–Karnataka Region, covering most of Deccan plateau except for Moplah Muslims of Kerala and the Labbewaar Muslims in Tamil Nadu in the south, to the Beary Bhashe language and Konkani speaking Muslims along the western coast of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. Though, a minor Segment of Kerala Muslims do speak the Dakhini dialect and identify themself as Dakhini Muslims who follows Hanafi Mazhab(Hanafi School).