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