gün

Gün is a Turkish noun that primarily means day, the period of daylight from sunrise to sunset, and is also used in a broader sense to refer to a time or era. The term derives from a Proto-Turkic root and has cognates in other Turkic languages, such as Azerbaijani gün and Kazakh gün.

As a personal name, Gün is used in Turkish as both a given name and a surname. In modern usage it appears in various compound names and family names. The name carries associations with brightness and light, reflecting its meaning related to daytime.

In everyday Turkish, Gün appears in numerous terms and expressions. Examples include günlük meaning daily or a diary, güncel meaning current or up-to-date, gündüz meaning daytime, gün doğumu for sunrise, and gün batımı for sunset. These formations illustrate how the root integrates into common vocabulary to convey time, freshness, and relevance.

Beyond Turkish, the word and its cognates appear across other Turkic languages with a closely related meaning of day. The concept of the day is a fundamental element in timekeeping, calendars, and cultural expressions throughout Turkic-speaking regions. Gün thus functions as both a basic lexical item and a productive component in personal names and compound terms.