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- English Words with Russian Origin
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babushka
A woman’s headscarf, tied under the chin.
balalaika
A Russian musical instrument, similar to a guitar, with a triangular body.
cosmonaut
An astronaut, especially a Russian or Soviet one.
gulag
A prison camp.
intelligentsia
The intellectual élite of a society (especially in nineteenth-century Poland, in Russia and later the Soviet Union).
knout
A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia.
kopek
A Russian monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a ruble.
kremlin
A Russian ‘castle’ or fortified, central complex, as found in various Russian cities.
mammoth
Something very large of its kind.
Russian doll
One of a set of hollow nesting dolls, usually wooden and decorated.
pogrom
A riot aimed at persecution of a particular group, usually on the basis of their religion or ethnic origin.
sable
A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Mustela zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur.
samovar
a metal urn with a spigot, for boiling water for making tea. Traditionally, the water is heated by hot coals or charcoal in a chimney-like tube which runs through the center of the urn. Today, it is more likely that the water is heated by an electric coil
sputnik
Any of a series of Soviet unmanned space satellites, especially the first one in 1957.
steppe
The grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia. Similar to (US) prairie and (African) savannah.
taiga
A subarctic zone of evergreen coniferous forests situated south of the tundras and north of the steppes in the Northern Hemisphere.
troika
A Russian carriage drawn by a team of three horses abreast
ushanka
Traditional Russian fur cap with earflaps.
vodka
A clear distilled alcoholic liquor made from grain mash.
tsar
A Slavic emperor (not necessarily a Russian emperor)
Bolshevik
A Russian communist revolutionary, member of the Bolshevik Party in the 1917 Communist Revolution of Russia.
shashlik
A form of skewered dish.
Molotov cocktail
A simple incendiary bomb made from a glass bottle, filled with an inflammable liquid such as petroleum, with a rag for a fuse that is lit just before being hurled.
blintz
A thin blini, filled and folded, then sautéed or baked
kvass
A type of traditional fermented Russian no- or low-alcohol beverage, made from bread, often flavored with fruit.
okroshka
A a cold raw vegetable soup, part of the national cuisines of Russia and Ukraine.
pelmeni
A kind of Russian dumpling, like ravioli.
pierogi
A square- or crescent-shaped dumpling of unleavened dough, stuffed with sauerkraut, cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, onion, meat, hard-boiled eggs, or any combination of these, or with a fruit filling.
pirozhki
Small Russian pastries filled with finely chopped meat, vegetables or fruit baked or fried.
sevruga
A type of sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus.
shchi
A type of soup from Russia made from cabbage.
smetana
A European form of soured cream or crème fraîche.
varenyky
Boiled dumplings stuffed with potato, cheese, or other filling.
apparatchik
A blindly loyal bureaucrat.
apparat
The Russian machinery of state bureaucratic administration
boyar
A rank of aristocracy (second only to princes) in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania.
commissar
An official of the Communist Party, often attached to a military unit, who was responsible for political education.
duma
A Russian national parliament.
FSB
Federal Savings Bank
glasnost
1980s policy of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev to allow more government transparency
KGB
the former Soviet State Security Committee.
kolkhoz
A farming collective in the former Soviet Union.
kulak
A prosperous peasant in the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union, who owned land and could hire workers.
krai
A region or province in Russia (край).
Leninism
The political philosophy named after Vladimir Lenin that is characterized by the theory of imperialism and the theory of the revolutionary party.
Menshevik
A member of the gradualist wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party during the years preceding the Russian Revolution.
Mir
A Soviet space station.
nomenklatura
The system of bureaucratic patronage in the former Soviet Union
oblast
A region or province.
perestroika
Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
politburo
The governing council of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other Leninist political systems.
SMERSH
Counter-intellience organisation attached to Russian army units during World War II.
Soviet
Any of the governing workers' councils in the Soviet Union.
Stalinism
The Communist philosophy espoused by Soviet Leader Josef Stalin.
tsarina
An empress of several Eastern European countries, especially Russia.
tsarevna
the daughter of a tsar; a czarevna
tsarevich
a son of a tsar, a prince in Russia or Bulgaria
Kalashnikov
a particular model of Russian assault rifle.
marshrutka
A share taxi in the CIS countries, the Baltic states, and Bulgaria.
banya
A type of steam bath, popular in Russia.
dacha
a Russian villa, or summer house, in the countryside