List of English Words of Russian Origin - Common

Common

-nik, a borrowed suffix (also used in Yiddish)

Babushka (Russian: ба́бушка "grandmother", "granny" or just an old woman), a headscarf folded diagonally and tied under the chin (this meaning is absent in the Russian language).

Balalaika (Russian: балала́йка, ) (Tartar origin) A triangle-shaped mandolin-like musical instrument with three strings.

Bridge game (from the Old East Slavic: бирич biritch).

Cosmonaut Russian: космона́вт (IPA (κόσμος kosmos a Greek word, which in Russian stands for 'outer space', rather than 'world' or 'universe', and nautes 'sailor', thus 'space sailor'; the term cosmonaut was first used in 1959; the near similar word "cosmonautic" had been coined in 1947) A Russian astronaut. Cosmodrome (by analogy with aerodrome) was coined to refer to a launching site for Russian spacecraft.

Gulag (Russian ГУЛА́Г, acronym for Главное Управление Исправительно-Трудовых Лагерей и колоний) (Russian acronym for Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Administration (or Directorate) of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies.)

1. (historical) In the former Soviet Union, an administered system of corrective labor camps and prisons.
2. (figurative) A coercive institution, or an oppressive environment.

Intelligentsia (Russian: интеллиге́нция ; from Latin intelligence, intelligentia from inter "between", and legare "to choose")

1. The part of a nation (originally in pre-revolutionary Russia) having aspirations to intellectual activity, a section of society regarded as possessing culture and political initiative; plural the members of this section of a nation or society.
2. In the former Soviet Union, the intellectual elite.

Kazakh (Russian: каза́х) (Russian, late 16th century, Kazak, from Turkic meaning "vagabond" or "nomad", name of the ethnicity was transliterated into English from Russian spelling. The self-appellation is "Kazak" or "Qazaq".) Kazakh people.

Knout (Russian: кнут ) perhaps from Swedish knutpiska, a kind of whip, or Germanic origin Knute, Dutch Knoet, Anglo-Saxon cnotta, English knot) A whip formerly used as an instrument of punishment in Russia; the punishment inflicted by the knout.

Kopeck (Russian: копе́йка, ; derives from the Russian (копьё 'spear') a reference to the image of a rider with a spear on the coins minted by Moscow after the capture of Novgorod in 1478) A Russian currency, a subunit of Ruble, 100 kopecks is equal to 1 ruble.

Kremlin (Russian: кремль ; Russian for "fortress", "citadel" or "castle") A citadel or fortified enclosure within a Russian town of city, especially the Kremlin of Moscow; (the Kremlin) Metonym for the government of the former USSR, and to a lesser of extent of Russian post- Soviet government.

Mammoth (Russian ма́монт mamont, from Yakut mamont, probably mama, "earth", perhaps from the notion that the animal burrowed in the ground) Any various large, hairy, extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus, especially the Wooly Mammoth. 2. (adjective) Something of great size.

Matryoshka also Russian nested doll, stacking doll, Babushka doll, or Russian doll (Russian: матрёшка . A set of brightly colored wooden dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside another. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a corpulent, robust, rustic Russian woman.

Muzhik (Russian мужи́к) - a plain man, but now this word is extremely popular and can be used for any man, because in mass culture (in real mass culture in reality, not in glam magazines and video clips) it is trendy to be plain and ordinary. It also is associated with strength and other masculine features.

Pogrom (from Russian: погро́м; from "громи́ть" gromit "to destroy"; the word came to English through Yiddish פאָגראָם c.1880–1885)

1. (early 20th century) A riot against Jews.
2. (general) An organized, officially tolerated attack on any community or group.
3. (transitive verb) Massacre or destroy in a pogrom.

Ruble (Rouble) (From Russian рубль rubl, from Old Russian rubli "cut" or "piece", probably originally a piece cut from a silver ingot bar (grivna) from Russian руби́ть, rubiti meaning "to chop". Historically, "ruble" was a piece of a certain weight chopped off a silver ingot (grivna), hence the name. An alternate etymology may suggest the name comes from the Russian noun рубе́ц, rubets, i.e., the seam that is left around the coin after casting: silver was added to the cast in two goes. Therefore the word ruble means "a cast with a seam".) The Russian unit of currency.

Sable (from Russian sobol – со́боль, ultimately from Persian samor) A carnivorous mammal of the Mustelidae family native to Northern Europe and Asia.

Samovar (Russian: самова́р, IPA: (Russian samo "self" and varit "to boil" hence "self-boil") A traditional Russian tea urn, with an internal heating device to keep the water at boiling point.

Sputnik (Russian: "спу́тник" - "satellite" (in space and astronomy), in Russian its initial meaning is "travelling companion" from s "co-" + put "way" or "journey" + noun suffix -nik person connected with something; it means "satellite" when referring to astronomy related topics)

1. In English, the best known meaning is the name of a series of unmanned artificial earth satellites launched by the Soviet Union from 1957 to the early 1960s; especially Sputnik 1 which on October 4, 1957 became the first man-made object to orbit the earth.

Taiga (Russian: тайга́, originally from Mongolian or Turkic). The swampy, coniferous forests of high northern latitudes, especially referring to that between the tundra and the steppes of Siberia.

Troika (Russian: тро́йка "threesome" or "triumvirate")

1. (mid 19th century) A Russian vehicle, either a wheeled carriage or a sleigh, drawn by three horses abreast.
2. A Russian folk dance with three people, often one man and two women.
3. (historical) a) In the former Soviet Union, a commission headed by three people; especially NKVD Troika. b) In the former Soviet Union, a group of three powerful Soviet leaders; especially referring to the 1953 Troika of Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria, and Vyacheslav Molotov that briefly ruled the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin.
4. A group of three people or things working together, especially in an administrative or managerial capacity.

Ushanka (Russian: уша́нка ), or shapka-ushanka the word derives from rus. "уши" "ushi" - ears (and also flaps of ushanka) - ear-flaps hat, a type of cap (Russian: ша́пка shapka) made of fur with ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or tied at the chin to protect the ears from the cold.

Vodka (Russian: во́дка ; Russian derivative of вода voda "water") A 40% alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented wheat mash, but now also made from a mash of rye, corn, or potatoes.