Mixtec belongs to the Otomanguean family, one of the oldest and most diverse in Mesoamerica, within the Mixtecan branch alongside Cuicatec and Trique. More than a single language, it constitutes a broad complex of often mutually unintelligible varieties whose shared self-designation is tu'un savi ('word of the rain'). Its Otomanguean root reaches back several millennia and is historically tied to the Mixtec civilization and pre-Hispanic codices such as the Codex Zouche-Nuttall.

The Ñuu Savi people inhabit the Mixteca region, spread across the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla, as well as large migrant communities in northern Mexico and the United States. It is one of the most numerous linguistic groupings in Mexico, with several hundred thousand speakers altogether. Mixtec culture has a long tradition of metalwork, pictographic writing, and pre-Hispanic kingdoms, famed for figures such as the ruler Eight Deer Jaguar Claw.

After the conquest, Dominican missionaries studied Mixtec and produced works such as the grammar of Fray Antonio de los Reyes and the vocabulary of Fray Francisco de Alvarado, both from the sixteenth century. Mixtec was written with the Latin alphabet for doctrinal and administrative purposes, and colonial documents in the language survive. The Mixtec population suffered severe demographic decline and territorial reorganization under colonial rule.

Mixtec faces uneven vitality challenges: some varieties retain strong intergenerational transmission while others are endangered, in a context shaped by migration. It is recognized as a national language of Mexico, and INALI has documented dozens of varieties in its catalogue. Organizations such as the Academy of the Mixtec Language (Ve'e Tu'un Savi) promote a unified orthography, educational materials, and literary production to strengthen the language.