Uyghur

American  

[wee-goor] / ˈwi gʊər /

(Older Spelling) Uighur,

noun

plural

Uyghurs,

plural

Uyghur

1. a member of a predominantly Muslim Turkic-speaking people, dominant in Mongolia and eastern Turkestan from the 8th to 12th centuries a.d., and now living in northwestern China, mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

2. the Turkic language of the Uyghurs.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Uyghurs or their language.

Other Word Forms

• Uyghurian adjective
• Uyghuric adjective

Etymology

Origin of Uyghur

First recorded in 1840–45; from Uyghur; a self-designation of the Uyghur people

Example Sentences

A federal immigration judge on Wednesday granted U.S. asylum to a Chinese citizen who fled his homeland after gathering evidence of alleged human-rights violations against China’s Uyghur population.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026

In Xinjiang, around a million Uyghur Muslims have been detained in “re-education” camps, as is well documented.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

An unverified video posted on Instagram showed around 30 people gathered on Thursday in an area of the Almaty region that has a large Uyghur population.

From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025

Tensions escalated throughout the 1990s and 2000s as Uyghur allegations of marginalisation by Han Chinese spurred separatist sentiments and deadly attacks, which intensified Beijing's crackdown.

From BBC • Nov. 1, 2025

Singaporean Thenmoli Silvadorie, who visited with friends in May for 10 days, says: "I was very curious about Uyghur culture and wanted to see how different things may be there. But we were quite disappointed."

From BBC • Nov. 1, 2025