Word origins

• platskartA type of open-plan sleeper/couchette passenger train carriage found in countries of the former Eastern Bloc.
• pleytA riverboat.
• plittAn instrument of punishment resembling the knout, formerly used in Russia.
• plombirA type of ice cream made with vanilla, cream, eggs, and sugar.
• PodluzhnoyeA hamlet in Kumokhino selsoviet, Gorodets Raion, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Volga Federal District, Russia.
• podstakannika tea glass holder
• podzolThe typical soil of coniferous or boreal forests.
• pogostA medieval administrative and territorial district in Russia, varying in size from tens to hundreds of villages.
• PogrebkiA hamlet in “Posyolok Betlitsa” rural settlement, Kuybyshev Raion, Kaluga Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• pogromshchikA perpetrator of a pogrom.
• PokrassA surname from Russian.
• PokrovskA village, the administrative centre of “Selo Pokrovsk” rural settlement, Kozelsky Raion, Kaluga Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• PolitkovskayaA transliteration of the Russian surname Политко́вская (Politkóvskaja); Female equivalent of Politkovsky (“Политко́вский (Politkóvskij)”).
• politotdelA political department of the former Soviet Union.
• politrukA supervisory political officer responsible for ideological education and organization; political commissar.
• poltinnikA Russian silver half-ruble or 50-kopeck piece.
• polushkaA Russian coin worth one quarter of a kopek.
• polyarnikA polar explorer from the Soviet Union.
• PolyarnyA number of places in Russia
• polynyaA naturally formed transient area of open water surrounded by sea ice, especially in polar or subpolar seas.
• ponchikA type of fried dough pastry popular in many Central Asian and Eastern European countries, made by deep-frying dough until it becomes puffy, then filling it with custard, jam, or cream, and sometimes glazing the result or dusting it with powdered sugar.
• poodAn obsolete Russian unit of mass, equal to 40 Russian funt, or about 16.38 kg (approximately 36.11 pounds).
• PopovtsyThe members of one of the two principal movements (along with the Bezpopovtsy) of the Old Believers.
• portyankaA cotton wrapping worn in place of a sock by the Russian military, to avoid chafing, absorb sweat and improve the foothold.
• posadnika mayor in some East Slavic cities, towns, and oblasts.
• poshlostIn Russian culture, a negative human character trait, variously defined as petty evil, self-satisfied vulgarity, or obscenity and bad taste.
• poyarkoviteA monoclinic-prismatic white mineral containing chlorine, mercury, and oxygen.
• PregolyaA river in the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast exclave.
• prelestspiritual delusion, deception, conceit
• PridnestrovieTransnistria
• PrilesyeA settlement in Repyakhovka rural settlement, Krasnaya Yaruga Raion, Belgorod Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• Primorsky KraiA krai and federal subject in extreme southeastern Russia.
• prisiadkaAn East Slavic dance move in which a man squats and thrusts each foot out alternately.
• priyometactics that depend on pawn structure
• ProkopyevskA city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.
• ProletkultAn experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolution of 1917, and aspired to radically modify existing artistic forms by creating a new, revolutionary working-class aesthetic drawing inspiration from the construction of modern industrial society in backward, agrarian Russia.
• promyshlennikA Russian or indigenous Siberian worker, typically from the state serf or townsman class, who took part in the fur trade.
• propiskaa system of population control in the ex-USSR, (regional) residence permit, registration
• provokatsiyaA political event staged by an intelligence service on behalf of its government in order to accomplish some political goal.
• pryanikA Russian sweet-baked good, traditionally made from flour and honey.
• psikhushkaA mental hospital used for abusive psychiatric treatment of political dissidents.
• PugachyovA raion of Saratov Oblast, Volga Federal District, Russia, established in 1928.
• purgaA fine blizzard of snow in Russia.
• PushilinA transliteration of a Russian surname.
• PustilnikA surname from Russian.
• PutinaA feminine-form surname from Russian.; feminine of Putin
• pyshkaA Russian variety of doughnut, either ring-shaped or without a hole.
• rabfakA type of educational institution in the Soviet Union that prepared Soviet workers to enter institutions of higher education.
• RadonitsaIn the Russian Orthodox Church, a commemoration of the departed observed on the second Tuesday or second Monday of Pascha (Easter).
• rassolnikA soup in Russian cuisine made from pickled cucumbers.
• razbazarivanieThe sale or destruction of resources such as livestock by the kulaks in order to prevent them being appropriated under Soviet collectivization.
• RepyakhovkaA village, the administrative centre of the rural settlement of the same name in Krasnaya Yaruga Raion, Belgorod Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• ReutovA surname from Russian.
• rezidentThe head spy in a rezidentura.
• rezidenturaA base of Soviet/Russian espionage operations within a foreign country.
• RodiniaThe world supercontinent that formed at the end of the Mesoproterozoic era, then broke into eight continents during the Neoproterozoic.
• RodnoverySlavic neopaganism.
• roentgenizdatImprovised gramophone recordings made from X-ray film, used to smuggle prohibited music into the Soviet Union.
• RokossovskyA surname from Russian.
• RoscosmosA Russian state corporation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research.
• RosgvardiaNational Guard of Russia (the internal military force of the Russian government)
• RoskomnadzorThe Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media: a Russian federal executive body responsible for censorship in media and telecommunications.
• RossotrudnichestvoRussia's Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation.
• rubashkaSynonym of kosovorotka.
• RunetThe Russian-language community on the Internet.
• RybolovlevA transliteration of the Russian surname Рыболовлев (Rybolovlev).
• RzhevA town in Tver Oblast, Russia, situated on the Volga river.
• SablinA surname from Russian
• saffianA leather made from goatskins or sheepskins which is tanned with sumac and then brightly dyed.
• SalekhardA town, the administrative center of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Yamalia), Russia, located on the Arctic Circle and the Ob Region.
• samizdatchikA person who participates in the practice of samizdat.
• samogonIn Russia, home-distilled illegal spirit, similar to vodka; moonshine.
• SandarmokhA forest in Medvezhyegorsk, Karelia, Russia.
• sarafanA traditional long, trapeze-shaped Russian pinafore worn by women and girls.
• sardelkiA large, thick, boiled sausage.
• sarlykA yak.
• saxaulEither of two species of the amaranth genus Haloxylon: Haloxylon ammodendron (syn. Haloxylon aphyllum; black saxaul) and Haloxylon persicum (white saxaul), found in sandy habitats from Egypt to Mongolia and China.
• sazanA fish (Cyprinus carpio) in the Cyprinidae family. It is native to Sea of Azov, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Balkhash lake, Amour river.
• sazhenA unit of length formerly used in Russia, equal to seven feet (just over two meters).
• sbitenA hot winter honey-based Russian traditional drink/decoction with spices and jam.
• scumbriamackerel
• seecatchA full-grown male northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus).
• SemirechyeAn oblast (province) of the Russian Empire corresponding to most of present-day southeastern Kazakhstan and northeastern Kyrgyzstan.
• SerebrennikovA transliteration of the Russian surname Сере́бренников (Serébrennikov).
• serozema grey soil containing a low percentage of humus (around 1% to 3%)
• SevernyA district of Vorkuta, Russia.
• Seversky DonetsSynonym of Donets River.
• SevertokA transliteration of the Russian surname Северток (Severtok).
• sevrugastellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus).
• SeymA river which flows for 748 kilometres (465 mi) through the Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts of Russia and Sumy and Chernihiv Oblasts of Ukraine.
• ShainyanA surname from Russian.
• ShakhtyA city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the southeastern spur of the Donetsk mountain ridge.
• shapkaA brimless Russian fur cap.
• ShapovalovA surname from Russian.
• ShapovalovaA surname from Russian.
• shashkaA kind of guardless, lightly-curved sabre used in Russia.
• shashlikA form of shish kebab, originally made of marinated lamb meat.
• shchaThe letter Щ, щ.
• shchiA type of soup from Russia made from cabbage.
• ShchuchyA mountain range in the Anadyr Highlands, administratively part of Anadyrsky Raion, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia.