Russian · words English knows
Russian words in English, and what they really mean
English speakers know these 16 Russian words, or think they do. Each one below comes with its stress and a one-line definition, and links to a full page on how the word works in Russian and where English gets it wrong.
Aurélien CuvelierSep 22, 2026Everyday words
Plain Russian vocabulary that English speakers tend to get slightly wrong: a grandmother, a young woman, a street tough and the word for big.
- Babushka бабушка BAbushka
- noun, feminine Babushka is the Russian word for grandmother; the headscarf and nesting-doll senses are English inventions.
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- Devushka девушка DYEvushka
- noun, feminine Devushka means young woman in Russian, and it is also the polite way to address one you do not know, from a waitress to a stranger in the street.
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- Bolshoi большой balSHOY
- adjective Bolshoi is the everyday Russian adjective for big, so the Bolshoi Theatre is simply the Big Theatre.
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- Gopnik гопник GOPnik
- noun, masculine (pejorative) Gopnik is a Russian insult for a young street tough from the rough edge of town, the tracksuit-and-squat figure of internet memes.
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Things you say
Hello and thank you, plus the famous phrase that is not a toast.
- Privet привет priVYET
- noun used as a greeting Privet is the casual Russian hi, right for friends and family and too familiar for strangers or officials.
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- Spasibo спасибо spaSIba
- particle of thanks Spasibo means thank you in Russian, and the standard reply is пожалуйста (you're welcome).
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- Nostrovia на здоровье na zdaROvye
- fixed phrase (and a famous misunderstanding) Nostrovia is a garbled form of на здоровье, which Russians say when thanked for a meal, not when they raise a glass.
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Culture and objects
Six things English knows by their Russian names, from the country house and its bathhouse to the doll on the souvenir shelf.
- Dacha дача DAcha
- noun, feminine A dacha is a Russian country house with a garden plot, as much a place to grow food as a place to rest.
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- Banya баня BAnya
- noun, feminine A banya is a Russian bathhouse built around a wet-steam room, a ritual of heat and cold plunges rather than a dry sauna.
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- Samovar самовар samaVAR
- noun, masculine A samovar is a Russian metal urn that heats water for tea and keeps it hot for hours; the name means self-boiler.
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- Borscht борщ borshch
- noun, masculine Borscht is a beet soup of Ukrainian origin, eaten across Russia and the whole region, usually with a spoon of smetana on top.
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- Matryoshka матрёшка matRYOSHka
- noun, feminine A matryoshka is a Russian nesting doll, a set of painted wooden figures that fit one inside the next.
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- Ushanka ушанка uSHANka
- noun, feminine An ushanka is the Russian fur hat with ear flaps that tie on top in mild weather and fold down over the ears in hard frost.
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History and politics
Words English met in history books and political reporting, and what they carry in Russian.
- Gulag ГУЛАГ gooLAG
- acronym turned noun Gulag names the Soviet system of forced-labor camps, after the acronym of the agency that ran it from 1930.
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- Kompromat компромат kampraMAT
- noun, masculine Kompromat is Russian for damaging information gathered about someone and held in reserve to blackmail or pressure them.
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- Troika тройка TROYka
- noun, feminine Troika means a set of three in Russian, from a three-horse sleigh team to any trio that holds power.
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Every word taught like this, with its grammar attached
Written by
Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck
Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck, the app that teaches Russian and French words in context. Each course follows the official proficiency word lists and a frequency corpus for its language, and every word comes with real, annotated example sentences.
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