Kazakh (or قازاق ٴتىلى, Қазақ тілі, pronounced [kɑˈzɑk ti:’lɪ]) is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak (or Northwestern Turkic) branch, closely related to Nogai, and especially Karakalpak. In Kazakhstan and Moldova it is written both in Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, while the more than one million Kazakh-speakers in China use an Arabic-derived alphabet similar to that used to write Uyghur. The ethnonym “Kazakh” is derived from an ancient Turkic word meaning “independent; a free spirit” Writing system: Kazakh alphabets (Cyrillic, Latin, Perso-Arabic) Official language in: Kazakhstan, Russia: Altai Republic