Turkic

American  

[tur-kik] / ˈtɜr kɪk /

noun

1. a family of closely related languages of southwest, central, and northern Asia and eastern Europe, including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and Yakut. Turk, Turk.

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adjective

1. of or relating to Turkic or Turkic-speaking peoples.

Turkic British  

/ ˈtɜːkɪk /

noun

1. a branch or subfamily of the Altaic family of languages, including Turkish, Turkmen, Kirghiz, Tatar, etc, members of which are found from Turkey to NE China, esp in central Asia

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Other Word Forms

• non-Turkic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Turkic

First recorded in 1855–60; Turk + -ic

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Turkic

Uyghurs, a Turkic minority, hail from China's westernmost province, Xinjiang.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

To name the largest, some estimate the Turkic Azeris make up 25% of Iran’s population and Kurds 15% or so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026

She disappeared in late 2017 amid a brutal government crackdown aimed at the Uyghurs, a Turkic, predominately Muslim ethnicity native to China’s northwest Xinjiang region.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2023

Conflict in the region between between Christian Armenians and Turkic Muslim Azeris goes back more than a century.

From Reuters ● Sep. 20, 2023

The most ancient name by which the Turkic tribes of Central Asia were known to the Chinese was Hiung-nu.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max