Word origins

• metodichkaInstruction manuals about the right or approved way to talk about specific events for the purposes of propaganda.
• microraionA residential complex in a current or former communist country, chiefly one which was previously part of the Soviet Union; a microdistrict.
• MileikowskyA transliteration of the Russian surname Милейко́вский (Milejkóvskij).
• militsiaThe police in the Soviet Union and some related or successor states (e.g., modern Belarus).
• Mineralnye VodyA town in Stavropol Krai, Russia.
• MinusinskA town in Krasnoyarsk Krai of Siberia in the Russian Federation.
• miryachitA nervous disorder said to have been encountered in Siberia, characterized by a jumping tic and the involuntary imitation of the words and actions of other people.
• MolokanA member of a Christian sect that evolved from "Spiritual Christian" Russian peasants who refused to obey the Russian Orthodox Church, beginning in the 1600s in the Russian Empire as an indigenous adaptation of the Protestant movement from Europe. Named for their heresy of eating (including dairy foods), instead of fasting, during Lent.
• morkovchaA spicy carrot-based salad.
• morozhenoeRussian ice cream.
• MozdokA town in Mozdoksky, North Ossetia-Alania, Russia.
• mujikA Russian (male) peasant.
• mumijoSynonym of shilajit.
• nadsatThe Russian-influenced argot used by the teenage protagonists in Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange (1962).
• nagaikaA short, thick braided whip with a round cross-section, used by the Cossacks.
• Nagorno-KarabakhA landlocked region in South Caucasus.
• nalesnikA type of Polish and Eastern European crepe, often eaten cold with jam or cheese.
• nalistnikSynonym of nalesnik in Russian cuisine.
• NanaiA Tungusic people of China and the Russian Far East
• NarodnikA member of a socially conscious movement of the Russian middle class in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against the tsardom.
• NataraA river in Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia.
• naukogradA town or city with exceptional research and development, usually under formal arrangement by the government.
• NavalnyA transliteration of the Russian surname Нава́льный (Naválʹnyj).
• NechaevA transliteration of the Russian surname Неча́ев (Nečájev).
• NechayevA transliteration of the Russian surname Неча́ев (Nečájev).
• NestrigaRussian spelling of Nestryha.
• NezhegolA small river in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, near Ukraine. The town of Shebekino sits near the mouth of the Nezhegol where it flows into the Donets.
• NikolayevkaVery many settlements in Russia, including
• NikolayevoA hamlet in Podbolotye rural settlement, the Raion imeni Babushkina, Vologda Oblast, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.
• NikolayevskFormer name of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur: A town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, on the Amur River.
• NikolayevskayaA stanitsa, the administrative centre of Nikolayevskaya rural settlement, Naurskaya Raion, Chechen Republic, North Caucasian Federal District, Russia, founded in 1848.
• NikolayevskoyeA village, the administrative centre of Nikolayevskoye rural settlement, Yadrin Raion, Chuvash Republic, Volga Federal District, Russia.
• NikolayevskyA posyolok in Karaulnoye selsoviet, Kamyzyak Raion, Astrakhan Oblast, Southern Federal District, Russia.
• NikolskyA transliteration of the Russian surname Нико́льский (Nikólʹskij).
• NikonovA surname from Russian.
• nilasNewly frozen sea ice in the form of a smooth sheet less than ten centimeters (four inches) thick.
• nitchevonever mind; no matter
• NizhnevartovskA city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• Nizhnyaya PeshaA village in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• Nizhny NovgorodAn oblast and federal subject of Russia.
• nostroviacheers (a toast)
• Novaya ZemlyaAn archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia, administered by Arkhangelsk oblast.
• novichokAny of a group of deadly organophosphate nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s to evade restrictions on chemical weapons.
• NovitskyA surname.
• NovoaltayskA town in Altai Krai, Russia.
• NovorossiyaAn area north of the Black Sea which was conquered by the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century, located in present-day Ukraine.
• NovosilA town of district significance, the administrative centre of Novosilsky Raion, Oryol Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia, first mentioned in 1155.
• NovozybkovA town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia.
• ObukhovkaThe former name of Bulaqty (a village in Beskol rural okrug, Alakol Raion, Jetisu Oblast, Kazakhstan).
• ObukhovskayaA rural territory of Starooskolsky Urban Okrug, Belgorod Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia. Seat: Obukhovka.
• ObukhovskoyeA rural settlement in Pizhansky Raion, Kirov Oblast, Volga Federal District, Russia. Seat: Obukhovo.
• OganessianA surname from Armenian.
• okanyeAbsence of the form of vowel reduction called akanye.
• OkhranaA secret police force of the Russian Empire.
• oladyiSmall thick pancakes or fritters common in Russian and Ukrainian cuisines.
• OlekmaA tributary of the Lena river in eastern Siberia.
• Olenya GubaA bay, an extension of the Kola Inlet of the Barents Sea, on the Kola Peninsula of Murmansk Oblast, Russia.
• OlenyeA village, the administrative centre of Olenyevskoye rural settlement, Dubovsky Raion, Volgograd Oblast, Russia.
• OlgovkaA hamlet in Rassvetovsky selsoviet, Davlekanovsky Raion, Republic of Bashkortostan, Volga Federal District, Russia.
• OlonetsA variety of the Karelian language mainly spoken in the area between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega.
• omulAny of the salmon-like fish of species Coregonus migratorius (syn. Coregonus autumnalis migratorius), native to Lake Baikal in Siberia
• onomatodoxyThe doctrine that the name of God is God himself.
• oprichnikA member of the bodyguard corps established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern a division of Russia from 1565 to 1572.
• oprichninaThe period of Russian history between 1565 and 1572 during which Tsar Ivan the Terrible instituted a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats.
• OrdzhonikidzeFormer name of Vladikavkaz: the capital city of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia.
• OreshnikA Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile.
• OrskA city in Orsk, Orenburg Oblast, Asian Russia, Russia.
• OryolAn oblast of Russia.
• osminaAn old Russian dry measure, approximately 105 litres; half of a tchetvert.
• osseterAcipenser gueldenstaedtii, the Russian sturgeon.
• OstashkovA town, the administrative center of Ostashkovsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, Europe.
• ostranenieDefamiliarisation.
• ostrogA small Russian fort, typically wooden, encircled by a palisade wall.
• OstyakA member of any of several indigenous peoples in Siberia, Russia, including the Khanty people and the Ket people.
• otkaznikSynonym of refusenik.
• otkhodThe exodus of Russian men from rural to industrial areas to find work outside the agricultural season.
• otzovismrecallism
• otzovistrecallist
• OwtchahA large shaggy sheepdog of a Russian breed.
• OymyakonA village in Sakha, Russia, known for being one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth.
• OyubA transliteration of the Russian male given name Оюб (Ojub)
• pakhanateAnother term for mafia state.
• palochkaA Cyrillic letter used in writing several Caucasian languages.
• PamyatA member of this movement.
• papirosaA style of Russian filterless cigarette.
• partinostPartyness, or political party spirit, in the context of the former USSR.
• PartizanskA town in Primorsky Krai, Russia.
• partmaximumA maximum limit on the salary of a member of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union between 1920 and 1932.
• ParyaAn isolated Indo-Aryan language spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• paskhaA traditional Eastern Orthodox Easter dessert, made from curd.
• pastilaA traditional Russian confectionery made of fruit paste, together with egg whites and sugar. Depending on which regional recipe is used, the consistency can vary from that of a soufflé (as in Belyov) to that of a zefir/marshmallow (as in Kolomna).
• PechenegA member of a specific semi-nomadic Turkic people from central Asia, some of whom migrated into eastern Europe.
• pechkaSynonym of Russian oven.
• pelmeniRussian dumplings resembling ravioli.
• perekovkarehabilitation (of criminals)
• perezhivanieThe cognitive sensation of an emotional experience.
• PetergofA municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
• PevekAn Arctic port town and administrative center of Chaunsky, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• pirogA baked case of dough with a sweet or savoury filling, popular in Eastern Europe.
• pirozhkiSmall pastries filled with finely chopped meat, vegetables or fruit baked or fried, from eastern European cuisine, or a serving of these.