'Yogurt' entered world languages from Turkish; English yogurt/yoghurt comes from Ottoman Turkish.

Etymology

LanguageFood

Why it matters

The idea in context

The food is milk thickened with a starter culture, but the journey is the interesting part: Turkish carried both the method and the name outward, and English recorded forms such as yogurt and yoghurt from Ottoman Turkish. A breakfast staple in dozens of countries still answers to a Turkish word.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

'Yoğurt' sözcüğü Türkçeden dünya dillerine yayıldı; İngilizcedeki yogurt/yoghurt bile bu kökten gelir.

TDK yoğurdu, maya katılarak koyulaştırılmış süt ürünü olarak tanımlar. İlginç olan yalnız yiyecek değil, sözcüğün yolculuğudur: Türkçe hem mayalama kültürünü hem de adı dışarı taşıdı; İngilizcedeki yogurt/yoghurt biçimleri Osmanlı Türkçesindeki yoğurt sözcüğünden gelir.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

TDK Guncel Turkce Sozluk; Etymonline: yogurt from Ottoman Turkish yugurt. Added Turkish word-fact batch 2026-07-05. Global-audience pass 2026-08-23: retyped to house Word origin style, generic lead cleared, unexplained TDK reference removed from user-facing context.

Background reading: YogurtAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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