Word origins

• timecodeTo mark with time codes.
• DecembristA participant in, or sympathizer with, the Decembrist revolt.
• TranscaucasiaA mountainous region of West Asia and Eastern Europe, lying between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising the republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• merzkyDirty or nasty.
• active measuresPolitical warfare conducted by the Soviet or Russian government since the 1920s to advance foreign policy, including espionage, propaganda, sabotage, and assassination.
• Adyghe Autonomous OblastAn autonomous oblast within the Russian SFSR of the former Soviet Union, established on August 24, 1922 and existing until July 3, 1991, when it was elevated to the status of a republic and renamed the Republic of Adygea.
• AfrasianOf or relating to both Africa and Asia.
• All-UnionDenoting a scope that included all of the Soviet Union rather than only one or several Republics of the Soviet Union.
• bag peopleSmall-scale peddlers or traders operating in the wake of economic and political collapse, often having been displaced from the cities into the countryside.
• beyonsenseSynonym of Zaum.
• Black TulipSynonym of Antonov An-12 (“Soviet-era turboprop cargoplane”).
• Borodino breadSynonym of Borodinsky bread.
• Chechen RepublicThe official name of Chechnya, A republic of Russia, in English.
• Chekhov's gunA dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.
• China's final warningA warning that carries no real consequences; an empty threat.
• cold weaponA weapon that does not use explosives or fire.
• conflictogenesisThe process by which conflicts arise; the genesis of conflict.
• conflictogenicTending to cause conflict.
• conflictologyConflict resolution: the method and process involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.
• DecistA member of the opposition faction within the Bolshevik party known as the Democratic Centralists.
• defamiliarisationThe representation of objects anew, in a way that we do not recognize, or that changes our reading of them.
• deficit goodA commodity which was chronically difficult for citizens of the Soviet Union to obtain; particularly one which was considered a necessity or only a very basic luxury in the West, such as toilet paper or a car.
• dekulakizeUsually with reference to the Soviet Union and communist Eastern Europe: to dispossess a kulak (that is, a prosperous peasant) of his or her property and/or rights.
• Donetsk People's RepublicA Russian-backed, partially-recognized secessionist state proclaimed in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on 7 April 2014. It was later unilaterally annexed by Russia on 30 September 2022.
• elephant's footAdenia pechuelii.
• Father FrostIn Slavic culture, especially Russia, a traditional Yuletide gift-bearing character.
• federal subjectA constituent entity of Russia, its top-level political division; it includes all federated entities: republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal importance, an autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, all of which are, constitutionally, equal subjects of the federation.
• fellow travellerOne who travels together with another.
• fish furlow-quality or fake fur used as a fabric for clothing
• freedomiteA member of a Christian zealot sect that split off from the Doukhobors, and which was involved in protests against certain policies of the Canadian government during the early to mid 20th century; the Doukhobors were a non-Orthodox religious group which emigrated from Russia to Canada at the end of the 19th century to escape persecution.
• golden billionThe world's richest billion people, maintained by an indefinite elite which supposedly pulls strings to amass wealth and destroy regular people’s lives.
• Great Patriotic WarThe German-Soviet war (a portion of World War II fought between the USSR and Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945).
• hard signThe Cyrillic letter Ъ/ъ, which in modern languages serves to denote a hard (non-palatalized) consonant.
• hero cityA city that received an honorary title for outstanding heroism, especially a Soviet city honored for heroism during World War II, or a city honored by Ukraine for actions during the 2022 Russian invasion.
• herring under a fur coatSynonym of dressed herring.
• hypodeaconSynonym of subdeacon.
• imaginary geometryAbsolute geometry, an axiomatised geometry in which the parallel postulate is absent and not replaced by an alternative, and of which Euclidean geometry and some non-Euclidean geometries are subtypes.
• Ivan the TerribleIvan IV Vasilyevich, who was the Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533, and Tsar of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584.
• Jewish Autonomous OblastA federal subject, an autonomous oblast in the Far East of Russia.
• Jewish Autonomous RegionSynonym of Jewish Autonomous Oblast
• KadyroviteA member of the 141st Special Motorized Regiment, or any other formation subordinate to Ramzan Kadyrov.
• Kola PeninsulaA peninsula in Murmansk Oblast, in the far north of Russia. It borders upon the Barents Sea on the north and the White Sea on the east and south.
• Komi RepublicOfficial name of Komi: a republic and federal subject of Russia.
• Luhansk People's RepublicA Russian-backed, partially-recognized secessionist state proclaimed in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, on 27 April 2014. It was later unilaterally annexed by Russia on 30 September 2022.
• Maritime ProvinceSynonym of Primorsky Krai.
• meat assaultA human wave attack, particularly in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Mikoyan cutletA Soviet semiprocessed ground meat cutlet based on the American hamburger patty.
• mimosa saladA festive salad, popular in the former USSR, made with cheese, eggs, canned fish, onion, and mayonnaise.
• moondromeA lunodrome.
• mother heroineIn the Soviet Union, a woman who gave birth to and raised a large family; awarded as an honorary title.
• Mother RussiaA national personification of Russia as a woman, appearing in patriotic posters, statues, etc.
• Mountainous KarabakhSynonym of Nagorno-Karabakh.
• Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous OblastAn autonomous oblast of the Soviet Union created in the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923 and lasting until 1991.
• near abroadThe other countries and political regions which are in the vicinity of a country or political region.
• New RussiaSynonym of Novorossiya.
• OctobristA member of the league formed October 1905 in response to imperial policies.
• Old BelieverAny of those who separated from the official Russian Orthodox Church after 1666 as a protest against the church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652 and 1666. They continue liturgical and ritual practices which predate the reforms.
• operational encirclementa situation of (partial) encirclement where the besieged forces are not yet in imminent danger of destruction or capture, but are unable to organize adequate defence for a longer period of time, especially in such a way that there remains a connection to the rear, which the enemy however can cover with precise artillery fire, severely hampering supply.
• Oyrot Autonomous OblastAn autonomous oblast of the Soviet Union in the Russian SFSR, established in 1922 and renamed to Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast in 1948.
• peaceful coexistenceA situation where nation-states do not interfere with the domestic affairs of other countries, in order to avoid conflict; mutual non-interference.
• people's republicSelf-designation of a state with a Marxist-Leninist government.
• Peter the GreatPeter I, the Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725.
• physical chemistryThe science that uses theories and techniques from physics to study chemical systems.
• Potemkin villageAny false construct devised to disguise a shortcoming or improve appearances.
• price scissorsThe phenomenon where, for a certain group or sector of productive population, the overall valuation from their production for sale outside the group drops below the valuation of the demand of the group for goods produced outside the group after a period of reasonable equilibrium. For example, changing world price levels cause a country's exports to plummet in value, while the valuation of its imports remains relatively stable.
• Red ArmyName of the Soviet army in the period 1918–1946.
• Red SquareA large historical square in central Moscow.
• refusenikOne of the citizens of the former Soviet Union who was refused permission to emigrate (typically but not exclusively a Jewish citizen denied permission to immigrate to Israel).
• RodnoverPertaining to Rodnovery (Slavic Neopaganism).
• Rostov-on-DonA large city, the administrative center of Rostov Oblast, in southern Russia.
• rural-type settlementa semi-official designation for a settlement with a rural character, where settlement would not be enough to distinguish it from urban-type settlement
• Russian FederationSynonym of Russia: a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and North Asia.
• Russian Tsvetnaya BolonkaSynonym of Bolonka.
• Russian worldThe community of Russia as its own world; the Russosphere.
• Saint PetersburgA federal city and federal subject of Russia, known between 1914 and 1924 as Petrograd and between 1924 and 1991 as Leningrad; the former capital of Russia, from 1713 to 1728 and 1732 to 1918.
• Sea of AzovA very shallow sea bounded by Russia, Ukraine, and the Crimean peninsula, linked to the Black Sea by the Strait of Kerch.
• shock workerSynonym of udarnik.
• short iThe vowel sound /ɪ/, as in the words pit and stick. (The presence of a short vowel is sometimes signaled in spelling by the doubling of a consonant after it, such as in sitting as contrasted with siting.)
• sick man of EuropeThe Ottoman Empire.
• soft signThe Cyrillic letter Ь/ь (transliterated in English with an apostrophe (’) or prime (′)), which in modern languages using the Cyrillic alphabet serves to denote a soft (palatized) consonant.
• Southern BugA river in Ukraine.
• sovieticSynonym of Soviet.
• Soviet of NationalitiesOne of the two legislative chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; it represented the interests of members of different ethnicities in the USSR.
• Soviet republicA republic within the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
• special military operationA military campaign resembling a war; especially the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Stolichny saladA variation of Olivier salad.
• synharmonismVowel harmony.
• Temryuk BayA bay of the Sea of Azov, Black Sea, on the Taman Peninsula, Krasnodar Krai, North Caucasus, Southern Russia, Europe
• textologyThe critical study of a text's creation, transmission, and context.
• thief in lawA criminal who is respected, has authority and a high ranking status within the criminal underworld in the old Soviet Union, Russia and the republics that formed the former Soviet Union.
• Third RomeA political concept of Moscow as the successor of the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Empire, later extended to Russia in nationalist discourse.
• TransbaikalA mountainous region to the east of Lake Baikal in Russia.
• TranscaspiaThe name used from the second half of the 19th century until 1924 for the section of Russian Empire to the east of the Caspian Sea.
• trust, but verifyOne should have general faith in the benevolent intentions of others, but ultimately one can only rely on things that have been verified.
• twenty-five-thousanderOne of the approximately 25,000 industrial workers who voluntarily left their homes to do rural work in the kolkhozes in the USSR in the early 1930s.
• Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsA former transcontinental country in Europe and Asia (1922–1991), now split into Russia and 14 other countries; short form Soviet Union; abbreviation USSR.
• Ural Federal DistrictA federal district of Russia, containing 6 federal subjects.
• urban-type settlementan official designation for a semi-urban settlement (or a former town) in the Soviet Union, Poland (formerly), Bulgaria (formerly) and in 10 post-Soviet republics—Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
• war communismThe economic policy of the Soviet Russia from 1918 to 1921 during the Russian Civil War (1917‒23) and the Allied intervention (1918‒25).
• westernismSomething that is characteristic of the western part of a region.