The word 'yoghurt' entered English in the early 17th century from the Turkish "yoğurt", which itself is derived from the verb "yoğurmak", meaning "to knead" or "to thicken". This etymology directly reflects the process of making the food, where milk is thickened through fermentation. The Turkish term is likely of Proto-Turkic origin, related to concepts of mixing and condensing. The various English spellings (yogurt, yoghurt, yoghourt) represent attempts to transliterate the original Turkish sound, with 'yoghurt' being a common British variant that preserves a closer visual link to its source.

The word is a simplex loanword. Its spelling and form were adopted as a whole from the Turkish "yoğurt".