Lexicon
The core lexicon of the Uyghur language is of Turkic stock, but due to different kinds of language contact through the history of the language, it has adopted many loanwords. Kazakh, Uzbek and Chagatai are all Turkic languages which have had a strong influence on Uyghur. Many words of Arabic origin have come into the language through Persian and Tajik, which again have come through Uzbek, and to a greater extent, Chagatai. Many words of Arabic origin have also entered the language directly through Islamic literature after the introduction of the Islamic religion around the 10th century.
Chinese in Xinjiang and Russian elsewhere had the greatest influence on Uyghur. Loanwords from these languages are all quite recent, although older borrowings exist as well, such as borrowings from Dungan, a Mandarin language spoken by the Dungan people of Central Asia. A number of loanwords of German origin have also reached Uyghur through Russian.
Below are some examples of loanwords which have entered the Uyghur language.
| Origin | Source word | Source (in IPA) | Uyghur word | Uyghur (in IPA) | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persian | افسوس | epsus ئەپسۇس | /ɛpsus/ | pity | |
| گوشت | gösh گۆش | /ɡøʃ/ | meat | ||
| Arabic | ساعة | saet سائەت | /saʔɛt/ | hour | |
| Russian | велосипед | wëlsipit ۋېلسىپىت | /welsipit/ | bicycle | |
| доктор | doxtur دوختۇر | /doxtur/ | doctor (medical) | ||
| поезд | poyiz پويىز | /pojiz/ | train | ||
| область | oblast ئوبلاست | /oblast/ | oblast, region | ||
| телевизор | tëlëwizur تېلېۋىزۇر | /televizur/ | television set | ||
| Chinese | 凉粉 liángfěn | lempung لەمپۇڭ | /lɛmpuŋ/ | agar-agar jelly | |
| 豆腐 dòufu | dufu دۇفۇ | /dufu/ | tofu |
Read more about this topic: Uyghur Language
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