Circassian /sərˈkæsiən/, also known as Cherkess /tʃərˈkɛs/, is a dialect continuum of the North Caucasus. There are two Circassian languages as defined by their literary standards, Adyghe (КӀахыбзэ, West Circassian), with half a million speakers, and Kabardian (Къэбэрдейбзэ, East Circassian), with a million. The spoken languages, however, merge, with geographically intermediate dialects intelligible to both standards.