Etymology

Chernobyl

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Today it means: A major nuclear-energy accident. Full definition →

Russian Черно́быль
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The story

  1. Russian · borrowed fromЧерно́быль
  2. Russian · borrowed fromЧерно́быль
  3. English todayChernobyl

Borrowed from Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ). The place name is from Russian чернобыль (černobylʹ), meaning “mugwort” or “wormwood”. Doublet of Chornobyl, from the Ukrainian cognate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.