Runglish Vocabulary
Russian English Vocabulary
Derived from Russian


Strictly speaking, this is the list of English 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
"        kopek (kopeck, copeck)
"        Kremlin
"        mammoth
"        matryoshka
"        pogrom
"        Brit rouble, US ruble
"        samovar
"        sputnik
"        steppe
"        taiga
"        Troika (triumvirate)
"        Troika (dance)
"        troika (sled)
"        tundra
"        vodka

Cuisine

"        babka, a kind of cake
"        blin, also Yiddish blintz, pancake
"        borsch
"        kasha, buckwheat groats, Russian for porridge
"        kephir (kefir)
"        kumis (kumys)
"        kvass (kvas)
"        pirogi, also Polish pierogi (plural), dumplings or pies
"        pirozhki (piroshki), small pirogi
"        shashlik
"        sirniki
"        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
"        N'et - as in Mr. N'ET (Mr. Gromyko was known as Mr. N'ET)
"        NEP
"        NKVD
"        nomenklatura
"        obshchina
"        oblast
"        okhranka
"        okrug
"        oprichnina
"        oprichnik
"        perestroika
"        pyatiletka
"        Politburo
"        propiska
"        rayon
"        siloviki
"        Smersh
"        soviet
"        sovkhoz
"        Sovmin
"        Sovnarkhoz
"        Sovnarkom
"        stakhanovite
"        stalinism
"        Stavka
"        tsar, tsardom, tsaritsa, tsarevna, tsarevich, tsesarevich
"        ukase
"        Yevsektsiya
"        zampolit
"        zemshchina
"        Zemsky Sobor
"        zemstvo

Religious

"        Doukhobor
"        Chlysty
"        Lippovan, Lipovan, Lipovans
"        Molokan
"        Raskol
"        Raskolnik
"        skoptzy

Technical

"        Tokamak

Various

"        BAM
"        Belomorkanal (canal) and Belomorkanal (cigarettes)
"        banya
"        bylina
"        chainik
"        chastushka
"        chernozem
"        dacha
"        katorga
"        Lysenkoism
"        palochka
"        Pravda
"        samizdat
"        sharashka
"        Spetsnaz
"        tatary
"        titlo
"        yaranga
"        yurodivy
"        Some Russian letters:
      -        ya
      -        yat
      -        yer


Russian English Vocabulary


English - Runglish
Abortion - Abort
African American - Negro
Arse  Ass (American preference)
Astronaut - Cosmonaut
Brown bread - Black bread
Building - House
By means of - With the help of
Chancellor - Rector
Class, period, lecture, etc - Lesson
Committee - Commission
Condom - Preservative
Conference - Conferension
Correct - Right
Cousin - Brother/sister
Dad(dy) - Father
Dinner - Supper
Distinctive - Specific
Father Christmas - Grandfather Frost
Ground floor - First floor
(Female) friend - Girlfriend
(Male) friend - Boyfriend
Handsome - Beautiful
Hard - Hardly
Issue (of a magazine) - Number
(The) latest - Last
Lecturer, professor, reader etc - Teacher
Lunch - Dinner
Mum(my), Mom(my) - Mother
New - Fresh
Particular - Concrete
Police (in Russia) - Militia
Saunta Claus - Grandfather Frost
Street - Road
To convey - To express
To damage - To injure
To die - To be dead
To do sport - To go in for sport
To leave something (at home) - To forget something (at home)
To lock - To close
To shut - To close
To tell somebody - To say to somebody
Town - City
Underground - Metro
Violation - Breaking
Would like - To want