Uzbekistan Moves to Replace Foreign Words in Law With Uzbek Terms

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan's parliament has moved to purge foreign loanwords from its legal code, approving in first reading a bill that would replace seven borrowed terms — from "password" to "traffic light" — with native Uzbek equivalents.

The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis passed the bill on conceptual approval at a plenary session on June 9, sending it forward for a second reading. The legislation targets the unification of legal terminology across normative acts, substituting internationally recognized loanwords with Uzbek-language alternatives.

Under the proposal, "avans" (advance payment) would become "bo'nak," "markirovka" (labeling) would be replaced by "tamg'alash," "marshrut" (route) by "yo'nalish," "svetofor" (traffic light) by "yo'lchiroq," "coworking" by "ish markazi," "parol" (password) by "o'ron," and "progressiv" (progressive) by "ilg'or."

Deputy Minister of Justice Mahmud Istamov told the chamber that the initiative's aim is to ensure terminological uniformity across Uzbekistan's legislative framework. The bill was introduced by the Democratic Party Milliy Tiklanish, which cited the need to eliminate inconsistencies in how terms are applied across different regulatory acts.

The proposal did not pass without challenge. Deputy Nariman Umarov questioned the practicality of replacing several widely used terms — specifically "traffic light" and "password" — warning of potential ambiguity arising from the proposed substitutes.

Nizomiddin Mahmudov, Director of the Institute of Uzbek Language, Literature and Folklore at the Academy of Sciences, pushed back, arguing that the changes are aimed at developing and preserving the purity of the Uzbek language and building terminology rooted in national linguistic norms.

The debate reflects a broader tension in post-Soviet Central Asian states between linguistic sovereignty and the practical demands of a globalized legal and administrative vocabulary — a balance Uzbekistan is still actively negotiating.