The word yurt is originally from a Turkic word referring to the imprint left in the ground by a moved yurt; and by extension; sometimes a person's homeland; kinsmen; or feudal appanage. The term came to be used in reference to the physical tent-like dwellings only in other languages.

The Kazakhs (also Kazaks) are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan; but also found in parts of Uzbekistan; China; Russia; and Mongolia).