Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A language of Kyrgyzstan.
  • proper noun Turkish ethnic group in Kyrgyzstan.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a landlocked republic in west central Asia bordering on northwestern China; formerly an Asian soviet but became independent in 1991
  • noun a member of a people of Turkic speech and Mongolian race inhabiting vast regions of central Siberia
  • noun the Turkic language spoken by the Kirghiz

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Possibly from the Kyrgyz words "кырк кыз" (forty girls), a reference to the Manas epic unifying forty small tribes against the Chinese and the Muslim expansion; or possibly from "кырк ууз" (the forty tribes); or possibly from "кыргыс" (imperishable, inextinguishable, undying).

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Examples

  • Kazakh has been referred to as Kirghiz, Kirghiz-Kaisak, or Kazakh-Kirghiz while Kara-Kirghiz or Kara-Kyrgyz black Kyrgyz was the term used for what we call Kyrgyz.

    Site Home Michael S. Kaplan 2011

  • Schools were established to instruct students in everything from Ukrainian and Kirghiz to Evenk and Chukchi.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • Schools were established to instruct students in everything from Ukrainian and Kirghiz to Evenk and Chukchi.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • In Central Asia, they combined small clans and tribes to form the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Turkmen “nations.”

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • In Central Asia, they combined small clans and tribes to form the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Turkmen “nations.”

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • Schools were established to instruct students in everything from Ukrainian and Kirghiz to Evenk and Chukchi.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • In Central Asia, they combined small clans and tribes to form the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Turkmen “nations.”

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • In Central Asia, they combined small clans and tribes to form the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Turkmen “nations.”

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • Schools were established to instruct students in everything from Ukrainian and Kirghiz to Evenk and Chukchi.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • However their common predominant characteristic is a strong rhythmical regularity based on a complex of eight syllables with a strong accent on the uneven numbers alternating with the more weakly accented numbers, somewhat reminiscent of the Kirghiz Manas and other Asiatic oral epics.

    Reinventing the Aztecs - part three Mexican history 2008

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