The story
From roulette, a game of chance involving a revolving wheel. The first description is apparently in "The Fatalist," an 1840 short story by Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Russian roulette
Today it means: A deadly game in which a person loads a single bullet in the cylinder of a revolver, spins the cylinder so that the bullet's location is unknown, points the muzzle at their head, and pulls the trigger. In its most lethal form, played by multiple participants each of whom takes a turn until the weapon discharges. Full definition →