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• Turk
  Turk

  noun

  a native or inhabitant of Turkey.
• Turk.
  Turk.

  abbreviation

  Turkey.

Turk

¹ American  

[turk] / tɜrk /

noun

• Turks
  plural

1. a native or inhabitant of Turkey.

2. (formerly) a native or inhabitant of the Ottoman Empire.

3. a Muslim, especially a subject of the Sultan of Turkey.

4. a member of any of the peoples speaking Turkic languages.

5. one of a breed of Turkish horses closely related to the Arabian horse.

6. any Turkish horse.

7. Young Turk.

8. Archaic. a cruel, brutal, and domineering man.

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Turk. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Turkey.

2. Turkic. Also Turk

3. Turkish. Also Turk

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Turk ¹ British  

/ tɜːk /

noun

1. a native, inhabitant, or citizen of Turkey

2. a native speaker of any Turkic language, such as an inhabitant of Turkmenistan or Kyrgyzstan

3. obsolete a violent, brutal, or domineering person

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Turk. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Turkey

2. Turkish

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• non-Turk
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Turks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Turk

First recorded in 1400–50; from Old French Turc, Middle English Turke, Turque, ultimately from Turkish Türk; compare Medieval Latin Turcus, Medieval Greek Toûrkos, Middle French turc, Italian turco, Persian turk

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Turk Turk. Turks

Turk has criticised Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's conduct in Gaza.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

As Selim, the visiting Turk who catches Fiorilla’s eye, bass Vincent Graña had pitch and rhythm issues, and the grating timbre of Kresley Figueroa’s big, agile soprano undercut her depiction of Fiorilla.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

But funding from the city and county was recently cut in half, said the center’s chief executive, Amy Turk.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

Turk also strongly denounced the "continued dehumanisation and criminalisation" of migrants and refugees.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

When a Turk calls out our family name, we cluster around.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell

A spokesman for the Duchess of York said: "The duchess was completely unaware of the allegations that have since emerged against Mr Turk. She is naturally concerned by what has been alleged against him."

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2022

A spokesman for the Duchess of York said: "The Duchess was completely unaware of the allegations that have since emerged against Mr Turk. She is naturally concerned by what has been alleged against him."

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2022

The growth of iMerit and similar companies represents a shift away from crowdsourcing services like Mechanical Turk. iMerit and its clients have greater control over how workers are trained and how the work is done.

From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2019

“Cousin Turk. He delivers fertilizer to folks all over the county.”

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

In old Turk. it means, a Prince of the blood; in mod. times a gentleman, Greek or European.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 15 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

Piker initially came to fame a few years prior while making YouTube videos for his uncle’s media company The Young Turks.

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026

"Getting a Schengen visa is becoming increasingly difficult for Turks, but this new system makes it easy and fast for us to visit the Greek islands," said Emirhan Gurses, a 21-year-old student from Manisa.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

But Frederick experienced an epiphany in 1734 after an inspirational encounter with Prince Eugene of Savoy, who had helped defeat the Ottoman Turks at Vienna in 1683 and the French at Blenheim in 1704.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

The Cayman Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos are home to 146 species that only live in those territories, and this research expedition should add even more to the list.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026

The four Turks with us have spread along the length of our group.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell