variants
or Uyghur
or less commonly Uigur
plural Uighur or Uighurs or Uyghur or Uyghurs also Uigur or Uigurs
1
: a member of a Turkic people powerful in Mongolia and eastern Turkestan between the 8th and 12th centuries a.d. who constitute a majority of the population of Chinese Turkestan
2
: the Turkic language of the Uighurs
Uighur
adjective
or Uyghur
or less commonly Uigur
Examples of Uighur in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The technology exists to detect whether a company’s supply chain includes sub-tier suppliers based in the Uighur region of China.
—
Steve Banker, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
The ban on Huawei’s 5G technology in the UK, human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and Hong Kong’s National Security Law have all sparked criticism of China’s domestic and foreign activities.
—Matt Burgess, WIRED, 23 July 2020
One of my most memorable eating experiences was at a place called Dilara, an Uighur cuisine restaurant in Finsbury Park.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune Europe, 1 Oct. 2024
Tens of thousands of Uighur men and women have been sterilized by the government.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2024
The afternoon brought a familiar face: Abdullah Aktaş, another Uighur, who was nearly twenty years his senior and had been in Turkey long enough that he’d been granted citizenship.
—John Beck, Harper's Magazine, 4 Mar. 2022
Ethnically Uighur, Mamat left China at age 12 after an uprising in the region of East Turkestan, where most of Mamat’s extended family still lives.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Scientific American, 20 Sep. 2023
The government is also sending Uighur children to Chinese-language boarding schools, destroying mosques and Muslim shrines, banning religious and cultural practices, and imprisoning members of the Uighur cultural elite.
—Sean R. Roberts, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
It can also be spelled in different ways: Uighur, Uygur or Uigur.
—Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 28 June 2023
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Steve Banker, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
The ban on Huawei’s 5G technology in the UK, human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and Hong Kong’s National Security Law have all sparked criticism of China’s domestic and foreign activities.
—Matt Burgess, WIRED, 23 July 2020
One of my most memorable eating experiences was at a place called Dilara, an Uighur cuisine restaurant in Finsbury Park.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune Europe, 1 Oct. 2024
Tens of thousands of Uighur men and women have been sterilized by the government.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2024
The afternoon brought a familiar face: Abdullah Aktaş, another Uighur, who was nearly twenty years his senior and had been in Turkey long enough that he’d been granted citizenship.
—John Beck, Harper's Magazine, 4 Mar. 2022
Ethnically Uighur, Mamat left China at age 12 after an uprising in the region of East Turkestan, where most of Mamat’s extended family still lives.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Scientific American, 20 Sep. 2023
The government is also sending Uighur children to Chinese-language boarding schools, destroying mosques and Muslim shrines, banning religious and cultural practices, and imprisoning members of the Uighur cultural elite.
—Sean R. Roberts, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
It can also be spelled in different ways: Uighur, Uygur or Uigur.
—Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 28 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Uighur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Uighur. Accessed 26 Jul. 2025.
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