維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语
Wéiwú'ěryǔ
In Chinese, the English phrase "uyghur" referring to the language is said as 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语 (Wéiwú'ěryǔ). If unsure, use 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语. Wiktionary also lists 維語 / 维语 (Wéiyǔ).
Meaning: language (name)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语 | Wéiwú'ěryǔ |
| 維語 / 维语 | Wéiyǔ |
The term is used to refer to the Uyghur language. Related forms can also refer to the people or the ethnicity: 維吾爾 / 维吾尔 or 維吾爾人 / 维吾尔人 refers to an Uyghur person, and 維吾爾族 / 维吾尔族 refers to the ethnic group.
What does it mean word for word?
To specify the language, the suffix 語 / 语 (yǔ), meaning 'language', is added to the ethnic name. To refer to an individual of this ethnicity, the suffix 人 (rén), meaning 'person', is added to the name.
Which one should you use?
The full form 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语 is used for the language, while the shortened version 維語 / 维语 is also used to refer to the same language.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The term 維吾爾 / 维吾尔 can function as an adjective meaning "of, from or pertaining to the Uyghur people or the Uyghur language".
How do you pronounce it?
Wéiwú'ěryǔ
Did you know?
- Although written with Chinese characters, 維吾爾語 / 维吾尔语 belongs to the Turkic language family, which has a completely different structure than the Sino-Tibetan family of Chinese.
- The term 維吾爾族 / 维吾尔族 uses a specific suffix that classifies the group as one of the official ethnic nationalities within the Chinese state administrative system.
- The characters 維吾爾 / 维吾尔 are purely phonetic, but the first character 維 / 维 independently means 'to maintain' or 'to tie' in Chinese.
Examples in context
- 维吾尔语是中国少数民族维吾尔族的母语The Uyghur Language is the mother tongue of the Uyghur ethnic minority in China.
- 他会说维语He can speak Uyghur.
- 他正在学习维吾尔文He is learning Uyghur script.
- 伊犁维吾尔语的语音和词汇在某些方面略有不同The pronunciation and vocabulary of Ili Uyghur are slightly different in some aspects.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “uyghur” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
