What does "turanian" mean?

A member of any of the Asian peoples who speak Uralic or Altaic (or Turan) languages.

What is a synonym for "turanian"?

Common synonyms include: language, turanic, turanid.

adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A member of any of the Asian peoples who speak Uralic or Altaic (or Turan) languages. obsolete

Adjective

1
Of or pertaining to Turan. not-comparable
"The first written book which has come down to us in the Japanese, or indeed in any Turanian tongue, is the Kojiki or “Records of Ancient Matters,” which was completed A.D. 712."
2
Of or pertaining to the Turanians. not-comparable
"The Esthonians of Russia, who, like the Magyars, belong to the great Turanian family of mankind."

Proper Noun

1
A proposed language family (now generally rejected) encompassing the Uralic and Altaic languages; Ural-Altaic.

"The Volga German settlers may have Turanian blood in their veins from intermixing with the many peoples in the Volga river region."

From Turan + -ian. Use picked up in the mid 1800s, peaking in the late 1800s before dropping off in the mid 1900s.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.