Editing Kazakhstan (section)

== Etymology ==
The English word ''Kazakh'', meaning a member of the Kazakh people, derives from {{Langx|ru|казах}}.<ref>{{Cite OED|term=Kazakh}}</ref> The native name is ''{{Langx|kk|қазақ|translit=qazaq|label=none}}''. It might originate from the Turkic word verb ''qaz-'', 'to wander', reflecting the Kazakhs' [[Eurasian nomads|nomadic]] culture.<ref name=etym>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cossack (n.) |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=Cossack&allowed_in_frame=0 |dictionary=The Online Etymology Dictionary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002024126/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Cossack&allowed_in_frame=0 |archive-date=2 October 2015 }}</ref> The term ''[[Cossacks|Cossack]]'' is of the same origin.<ref name=etym />

In [[Turko-Persian]] sources, the term ''Özbek-Qazaq'' first appeared during the mid-16th century, in the ''Tarikh-i-Rashidi'' by [[Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat]], a [[Chagatai Khan|Chagatayid]] prince of [[Kashmir]], which locates Kazakh in the eastern part of ''[[Desht-i Qipchaq]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Qazaq Khanate as Documented in Ming Dynasty Sources|author=Kenzheakhmet Nurlan|page=133|year=2013}}</ref> According to [[Vasily Bartold]], the Kazakhs likely began using that name during the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|first=V. V.|last=Barthold|title=Four Studies on the History of Central Asia|translator=V. & T. Minorsky|location=Leiden|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|date=1962|volume=&thinsp;3|pages=129}}</ref>

Though ''Kazakh'' traditionally referred only to [[Kazakhs|ethnic Kazakhs]], including those living in China, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other neighbouring countries, the term is increasingly being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including residents of other ethnicities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Surucu |first=Cengiz |s2cid=145155985 |title=Modernity, Nationalism, Resistance: Identity Politics in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan |journal=[[Central Asian Survey]] |year= 2002 |pages=385–402 |doi=10.1080/0263493032000053208 |volume=21 |issue=4|issn=0263-4937}}</ref> In the Kazakh language, the country is called ''Qazaqstan'' in the [[Latin script]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan to Qazaqstan: Why would a country switch its alphabet? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41800186 |work=BBC News |date=31 October 2017}}</ref>