Meaning & use
Turkish
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Relating to Turkey, its people, its culture or its language.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after a linking verb: Turkish tea, the food is Turkish.
Patterns
- Turkish food
- Turkish citizen
We drank strong Turkish tea at a small cafe.
She has a Turkish passport and an Irish one.
The Turkish coast is popular in summer.
noununcountable
The language spoken mainly in Turkey and also in Cyprus and parts of Europe.
Grammar: Used without an article: she speaks Turkish.
Patterns
- speak Turkish
- learn Turkish
He is learning Turkish before moving to Istanbul.
The signs are written in Turkish and English.
My grandmother only speaks Turkish at home.
Common combinations
- Turkish delight
- We shared a box of Turkish delight.
- Turkish coffee
- Turkish coffee is served in tiny cups.
- Turkish bath
- The hotel has a traditional Turkish bath.
- speak Turkish
- Many people in the city speak Turkish and Kurdish.
- Turkish cuisine
- Turkish cuisine uses lots of yogurt and lamb.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Anatolian
- Anatolian refers to the Asian part of Turkey and ancient peoples there, so it is narrower than Turkish.
- Ottoman
- Ottoman refers to the empire that ruled the region until 1922, not to modern Turkey.
- Turkic
- Turkic covers a wider family of languages and peoples across Asia, so it is broader than Turkish.
Word family
Commonly confused: Turkish or turkey?
Turkish vs turkey
The lowercase turkey is a large bird eaten at holidays, while Turkey with a capital is the country.
Practice
After dinner in Istanbul, we ordered small cups of strong ___ coffee.
Choose one answer.
Turkish is the adjective meaning from or typical of Turkey. Turkey and Turk are nouns, and Turkic names a wider language family.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Turkish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.