Many languages, including English, contain words possibly borrowed from Russian. Not all of them are of truly Russian or Slavic origin. Some of them co-exist in other Slavic languages and it is difficult to decide whether they entered English from Russian or, say, from Polish, most notable of these being vodka. Some others are borrowed or constructed from classical ancient languages, such as Latin or Greek, still others are borrowed from indigenous peoples of the Russian Empire.
Most of them are used to denote things and notions specific to Russia, Russian culture, politics, history, especially well-known outside Russia: vodka, intelligentsia, taiga, tundra, pogrom. Possibly some others are in the "mainstream" usage, independent of Russian context.
Common
- babushka
- balaclava
- balalaika
- cosmonaut
- cossack
- Gulag
- intelligentsia
- Kazakh
- knout
- (borrowing from Swedish)
- kopek
- (kopeck, copeck)
- kremlin
- mammoth
- matryoshka
- pogrom
- ruble (rouble)
- sable
- samovar
- sputnik
- steppe
- taiga
- Troika (triumvirate)
- Troika (dance)
- troika (sled)
- tundra
- ushanka
- vodka
Cuisine
- blintz
- blin, pancake
- borsch
- kasha
- Buckwheat groats, Russian for "porridge" or "gruel"
- kumis
- (kumys)
- kvass
- (kvas)
- pelmeni
- pirogi
- also Polish pierogi, (plural) dumplings or pies.
- pirozhki (piroshki) small pirogi
- shchi
- shashlik
- sirniki, syrniki
- smetana
- vareniki
Political, Administrative
- agitprop
- apparatchik
- bolshevik
- boyar
- Cheka
- commissar
- DOSAAF
- Duma
- dvoryanstvo, dvoryanin
- FSB
- glasnost
- guberniya
- Kadet
- KGB
- kniaz
- kolkhoz
- kulak
- krai
- Leninism
- MGB
- Menshevik
- mir
- MVD
- Narkompros
- Nyet ("No")
- as in Mr. NET (Mr. Gromyko was known as Mr. NET)
- NEP
- NKVD
- nomenklatura
- obshchina
- oblast
- okhranka
- okrug
- oprichina
- oprichnik
- perestroika
- pyatiletka
- Politburo
- propiska
- raion (from French)
- silovik
- SMERSH
- soviet
- sovkhoz
- Sovmin
- Sovnarkhoz
- Sovnarkom
- Spetsnaz
- stakhanovite
- Stalinism
- Stavka
- tsar, tsardom, tsaritsa, tsarevna, tsarevich, tsesarevich
- ukase
- veche
- Yevsektsiya
- zampolit
- zemshchina
- Zemsky Sobor
- zemstvo
Religious
- Doukhobor
- Chlysty
- Lippovan, Lipovan, Lipovans
- Molokan
- Raskol
- Raskolnik
- skoptzy
- yurodivy
Technical, special
- chernozem
- soil type
- Tokamak
- a plasma confinement device
- Mir
- a Russian space station
- polynya
- area of clear water in arctic ices
- rasputitsa
- a season of muddy roads
Obsolete Russian weights and measures
- pood
- a measure of weight
- verst
- a measure of distance
Various
These are some other untranslatable Russian terms that have articles in English language Wikipedia.
- BAM
- bayan
- Belomorkanal (canal) and Belomorkanal (cigarettes)
- banya
- bylina
- Cantonist
- chainik
- chastushka
- dacha
- dedovshchina
- Junker (Russia)
- katorga
- kurgan
- kurtka
- Lysenkoism
- Lunokhod
- mat
- muzhik
- palochka
- Pravda
- sambo
- samizdat
- samogon
- sharashka
- Soyuz
- tatary
- titlo
- Vostok
- Yabloko
- yaranga
- zaum
- yat
- yer
- Ya
See also
External links
