Xinjiang Uyghur
/ˌʃɪnˈdʒɑːŋ ˈwiːɡʊər/noun
A term referring to the Uyghur people, language, or culture associated with Xinjiang, an autonomous region of China.
Did you know?Xinjiang is a Qing-era administrative name meaning “new territory” or “new frontier,” whereas Uyghur is an older ethnonym whose exact historical derivation remains debated among scholars.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*néwos
“New; the reconstructed root behind English new and related words, though it is unrelated to the Chinese word Xinjiang.”
Ancient Chinese
Old Chinese
新疆
“The characters literally mean “new frontier” or “new boundary.””
7th–8th Century
Old Turkic
Uyγur
“An ethnonym recorded for a Turkic people; it is traditionally connected with a root meaning to unite or be allied, though the analysis is debated.”
18th Century
Manchu and Qing Chinese
Xinjiang
“A Qing administrative designation for territories incorporated into the empire, literally “new frontier.””
19th Century
European languages
Uighur / Uyghur
“European transliterations of the Turkic ethnonym entered English through Central Asian, Russian, and Chinese usage.”
Modern English
English
Xinjiang Uyghur
“A modern geographic and ethnocultural expression referring to Uyghurs and their language or culture in Xinjiang.”