Spent a million absorbing language (5)
I believe the answer is:
tamil
'language' is the definition.
(Tamil is an example)
'spent a million absorbing' is the wordplay.
'absorbing' indicates a hidden word.
'TAMIL' can be found hidden inside 'spent a million'.
(Other definitions for tamil that I've seen before include "Sri Lankan" , "Perhaps Indian" , "Southern Indian language" , "Asian language" , "South Indian people or language" .)