a member of an Asian people with a complex material culture, sometimes thought to be of European origin, who lived in the Tarim Basin until overcome by the Uighurs around 800 ad
2.
the language of this people, known from records in a N Indian script of the 7th and 8th centuries ad. It belongs to the Indo-European family, is regarded as forming an independent branch, and shows closer affinities with the W or European group than with the E or Indo-Iranian group. The language is recorded in two dialects, known as Tocharian A and Tocharian B
Word origin
C20: ultimately from Greek Tokharoi, name of uncertain origin
Tocharian in American English
(toʊˈkɛriən; toʊˈkæriən; toʊˈkɑriən)
noun
1.
a member of a people living in central Asia until about a.d. 1000
2.
their extinct Indo-European language, comprising an eastern dialect (Tocharian A) and a western dialect (Tocharian B): the earliest record known is from the 7th cent. a.d.
adjective
3.
of the Tocharians or their language or culture
Word origin
formerly identified with Gr Tocharoi, a central Asian people mentioned by Strabo