Dictionary

young Turk en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of French Jeune-Turc, from which also Turkish Jön Türk has been borrowed.

Meanings

1. (historical) From the late-19th to the early-20th century, a member of a movement that campaigned for reform of the Ottoman Empire.
2. (broadly, idiomatic) A young person who agitates for political or other reform; a young person with a rebellious disposition.
   • He arrives at a time when jazz's discontented Young Turks have disdainfully turned away from their audiences and gone off to explore the way-out. 1966 September 30, “Jazz: Man with a Brain”, in Time:
   • "What! Roscoe?" inquired the principal. "Yes." "Is he in any mischief?" "Mischief? I should say so! Why, he's a regular young Turk." "A young Turk? I don't think I understand you, James." "I mean, he's a young ruffian." 1885, Horatio Alger, chapter 14, in Hector's Inheritance:

Forms

Translations (9)

de Jungtürke (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire) · bn তরুণ তুর্কি (idiomatic: young person who agitates for reform) · ott ژؤن ترک (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire) · cmn 憤青 /愤青 (idiomatic: young person who agitates for reform) · ar تُرْكِيَة الفَتَاة (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire) · ru младоту́рок (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire) · tr jön Türk (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire) · de Umstürzler (idiomatic: young person who agitates for reform) · kk жас түрік (historical: member of a movement of the Ottoman Empire)