Turkestan

American  

[tur-kuh-stan, -stahn, tur-kuh-stan, -stahn] / ˈtɜr kəˌstæn, -ˌstɑn, ˌtɜr kəˈstæn, -ˈstɑn /

Or Turkistan

noun

1. a vast region in western and central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea: includes territory in the south central part of Xinjiang province in China Eastern Turkestan or Chinese Turkestan, a strip of northern Afghanistan, and the area Russian Turkestan comprising the republics of Kazakhstan, Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan), Tadzhikistan (Tajikistan), Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

---

Turkestan British  

/ ˌtɜːkɪˈstɑːn /

noun

1. an extensive region of central Asia between Siberia in the north and Tibet, India, Afghanistan, and Iran in the south: formerly divided into West ( Russian ) Turkestan (also called Soviet Central Asia), comprising present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan and the S part of Kazakhstan, and East ( Chinese ) Turkestan , approximating to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China

---

Other Word Forms

• Turkestanian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Turkestan

First recorded in 1710–20; from Persian Torkestān; literally, “land of the Turks”

Example Sentences

Ethnically Uighur, Mamat left China at age 12 after an uprising in the region of East Turkestan, where most of Mamat’s extended family still lives.

From Scientific American • Sep. 20, 2023

From a Russian jail in Turkestan to a ghetto in Shanghai, “The World and All That It Holds” runs along the wire of Pinto’s tenuous hope.

From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2023

An ethnic Uyghur demonstrator shouts slogans as he holds an East Turkestan flag during a protest against China near the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, Turkey July 5, 2022.

From Reuters • Sep. 1, 2022

The Uyghur movement had briefly carved out a nominally independent state, the second East Turkestan Republic, in northern Xinjiang in 1944.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2022

It continued subject to the Mongols, sometimes to the house of Hulagu in Persia, and sometimes to that of Jagatai in Turkestan.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 8 "Germany" to "Gibson, William" by Various