The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, romanized: Oγuz, Ottoman Turkish: اوغوز, romanized: Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia. The name Oghuz is a Common Turkic word for "tribe". Byzantine sources call the Oghuz the Uzes (Οὐ̑ζοι, Ouzoi). By the 10th century, Islamic sources were calling them Muslim Turkmens, as opposed to Tengrist or Buddhist. By the 12th century, this term had passed into Byzantine usage and the Oghuzes were overwhelmingly Muslim. The term "Oghuz" was gradually supplanted among the Turks themselves by the terms Turkmen and Turcoman, (Ottoman Turkish: تركمن, romanized: Türkmen or Türkmân) from t