Kyrgyz or Kirghiz: which spelling is correct?

About the language · Updated 2026-08-15

Short answer: it is one language, and every spelling will be understood. “Kyrgyz” follows the native name and is the official form; “Kirghiz” and “Kirgiz” are older transliterations that came into English via Russian. Here is where the difference comes from and which form to pick.

One language, several spellings

We are talking about one and the same Turkic language, spoken by around five million people — primarily in Kyrgyzstan, with sizeable communities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China. There is no linguistic difference behind the spellings: same grammar, same alphabet, same words.

The people call themselves “Kyrgyz” and their language “кыргыз тили” (kyrgyz tili). English texts of the 19th–20th centuries usually borrowed the name through Russian, which had adapted it to its own phonetics — hence “Kirghiz” and “Kirgiz” in older books, atlases and catalogues.

Where “Kirghiz” comes from

The letter combinations «кы-» and «гы-» are untypical of Russian spelling, so the borrowed word was smoothed into the more familiar “киргиз” (kirgiz), and the country appeared on Soviet maps as “Kirghizia”. English-language scholarship of that era simply copied the Russian-mediated form.

That is why library catalogues, older linguistic literature and even some databases still index the language under “Kirghiz” — you will meet this spelling in classic grammars and dictionaries, and it is worth knowing when you search for learning materials.

Why “Kyrgyz” is the form to use today

After independence the country fixed its self-designation: the state is the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), and the state language is Kyrgyz. Modern style guides, news agencies and reference works overwhelmingly use “Kyrgyz” as the primary name (older classifications still list the language under “Kirghiz” — a trace of the same Russian-mediated tradition).

Modern media, textbooks and official documents in English overwhelmingly write “Kyrgyz”. Using it is both accurate and respectful of the native name; “Kirghiz” survives mainly as a historical or bibliographic variant.

So which should you write?

Write “Kyrgyz”. Keep “Kirghiz”/“Kirgiz” in mind only as search keys: older dictionaries, grammars and corpora are catalogued under them, and a search that ignores the historical spellings misses good resources.

And do not let the spellings fool you into thinking these are different languages: a “Kirghiz grammar” from 1970 and a “Kyrgyz course” from today describe the same living language.

About the language itself

Kyrgyz belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic family; of the major languages, its closest relative is Kazakh. It is written in a 36-letter Cyrillic alphabet — the Russian letters plus three special ones: ң, ө, ү. Spelling is phonetic, stress almost always falls on the last syllable, and vowels follow vowel harmony.

If you are just starting out, try our free English–Kyrgyz phrasebook with audio, look phrases up in the phrase translator or take the level test — it shows where to begin.