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

Derived Forms

• non-Turkic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Turkic

First recorded in 1855–60; Turk + -ic

Example Sentences

Kurds make up about nine percent of Iran's population, while the largest minority group is the Azeris, a Turkic people near Azerbaijan, though they are highly integrated in Iranian society.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 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

Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly Turkic Muslims, also claims deep historical ties to the region, which over the centuries has come under the sway of Persians, Turks and Russians.

From Reuters • Sep. 19, 2023

This is, however, only a small beginning, if compared with the profusion of grammatical resources displayed by the Turkic languages.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max