A Turk is a person from Turkey, a country that straddles both Europe and Asia, with Istanbul as its largest city. The Turkish people have a rich history stretching back over a thousand years. Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which had been one of the world's most powerful empires for over 600 years.

The word can also refer more broadly to people of Turkish ethnic background who live in other countries. Turkish culture has given the world many things: Turkish delight (a sweet candy), beautiful carpets, strong coffee, and kebabs. The Turkish language is different from English, using different grammar rules and a different alphabet.

Historically, “Turk” has also appeared in some older phrases and expressions that might seem odd today. The phrase Young Turk refers to someone who's a rebellious reformer in an organization, coming from a group of revolutionaries in early 1900s Turkey. You might also encounter the word in old books or games like chess, where automatic chess-playing machines were once called mechanical Turks (though these turned out to have hidden human players inside).