Turkana

American  

[toor-kah-nuh] / tʊərˈkɑ nə /

noun

Turkanas, plural Turkana plural

1. a member of a seminomadic people of northwestern Kenya and bordering areas of Uganda.

2. the Nilotic language of the Turkana.

3. Formerly Rudolf.  Lake. a lake in E Africa, in NE Kenya. 185 miles (298 km) long; 3,500 sq. mi. (9,100 sq. km).

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Turkana British  

/ tɜːˈkɑːnə /

noun

1. Former name: Lake Rudolf.  a long narrow lake in E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. Area: 7104 sq km (2743 sq miles)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Turkana
  plural
• Turkanas
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Turkana Turkanas

Eastern Africa's Turkana Rift is known both for its rich record of early human fossils and for intense volcanic activity driven by shifting tectonic plates.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

The Turkana Rift has produced more than 1,200 hominin fossils from the past 4 million years, accounting for about one third of all such finds in Africa.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

To reach this conclusion, Rowan and colleagues analyzed a rare set of high quality seismic data collected with industry partners and in collaboration with the Turkana Basin Institute, founded by the late paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

"We have only little food, which cannot reach all people in need," Rukia Abubakar, the Turkana coordinator for the Kenya Red Cross, tells the BBC.

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026

The Turkana themselves had no food and no jobs.

From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau

Meanwhile plenty of ethnic Turkanas, especially those with an education, are returning to their homeland from elsewhere in Kenya, hoping to join the oil boom, often as officials, wearing extraordinarily large wrist watches.

From Economist ● Jul. 9, 2015

"The Turkanas are fleeing from Suguta area with their household goods, goats and cattle," said Peter Legerded, a shopkeeper from Baragoi town, near the site of the ambush.

From Reuters ● Nov. 13, 2012