Kishlak or qishlaq (Uzbek: qishloq, Turkmen: gyşlag, Turkish: kışlak, Azerbaijani: qışlaq, Persian: قشلاق), or qıştaq (Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: кыштак) qıstaw (қыстау) is a rural settlement of semi-nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The meaning of the term is "wintering place" in Turkic languages (derives from Turkic qış - winter).[1]
The converse term is yaylaq, a summer pasture.
Traditionally, a clay/mud fence (dewal, duval, from Persian: دیوار divār) surrounds a kishlak.
The term may be seen in the toponyms, such as Afgan-Kishlak (Uzbekistan), Yangi-Kishlak (Turkmenistan), Mangyshlak (Kazakhstan), Qışlaq (Azerbaijan) or Qeshlaq in Iran (such as Qeshlaq, Qareh Qeshlaq, and Qeshlaq Khas).