Tatar

UK: /ˈtɑːtə/ US: (tä′tər)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

Ta•tar  (tä′tər), n. 

1. Language Varieties a member of a modern Turkic people living in the Tatar Autonomous Republic and adjacent regions of eastern European Russia and in widely scattered communities in western Siberia and central Asia.
2. Language Varieties the language of this people, including the literary language of the Tatar Autonomous Republic, the dialects of the Tatar Autonomous Republic and adjacent regions of the Volga basin (Volga Tatar,) and numerous other dialects, some transitional to other Turkic languages.
3. Language Varieties See Crimean Tatar. 
4. Language Varieties Tartar (defs. 1, 2, 4–6).

adj. 

5. Language Varieties of or pertaining to the Tatars or their language.
6. Language Varieties Tartar (def. 7).

Also, Tartar (for defs. 1–3, 5).

• 1805–15; see Tartar

Ta•tar•i•an  (tä târ′ē ən), Ta•tar•ic  (tä tar′ik), adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Tatar, Tartar / ˈtɑːtə/ noun

1. a member of a people who under Genghis Khan established a vast and powerful state in central Asia from the 13th century until conquered by Russia in 1552
2. a descendant of this people, now scattered throughout Russia but living chiefly in the Tatar Republic
3. any of the languages spoken by the present-day Tatars, belonging to various branches of the Turkic family of languages, esp Kazan Tatar

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French Tartare, from Medieval Latin Tartarus (associated with Latin Tartarus the underworld), from Persian Tātār