Etymology

Potemkin village

Today it means: Any false construct devised to disguise a shortcoming or improve appearances. Full definition →

Russian потёмкинская деревня
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The story

  1. Russian · calque ofпотёмкинская деревня
  2. English todayPotemkin village

Calque of Russian потёмкинская деревня (potjómkinskaja derévnja), named for purported fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.