Word origins

• 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.
• OsseteOssetian
• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• peaceful coexistenceA situation where nation-states do not interfere with the domestic affairs of other countries, in order to avoid conflict; mutual non-interference.
• PechenegA member of a specific semi-nomadic Turkic people from central Asia, some of whom migrated into eastern Europe.
• PechengaA town in Russia.
• pechkaSynonym of Russian oven.
• pectopahA Russian (or Serbian, Mongolian, etc.) restaurant.
• pelmeniRussian dumplings resembling ravioli.
• people's republicSelf-designation of a state with a Marxist-Leninist government.
• perekovkarehabilitation (of criminals)
• perezhivanieThe cognitive sensation of an emotional experience.
• PetergofA municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
• 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.
• PevekAn Arctic port town and administrative center of Chaunsky, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• physical chemistryThe science that uses theories and techniques from physics to study chemical systems.
• 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.
• 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.
• PlotnikA surname.
• 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.
• Pogosta diseaseA viral disease caused by Sindbis virus, encountered mainly in eastern Finland.
• 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.
• polnoglasieThe phenomenon of disyllabic -oro-, -ere- and -olo- reflexes in East Slavic languages of Late Proto-Slavic closed syllable clusters involving a vowel *a, *o, *e followed by a liquid *r or *l.
• 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.
• Potemkin villageAny false construct devised to disguise a shortcoming or improve appearances.
• poustiniaIn Christian spirituality, a small sparsely furnished cabin or room where a person goes to fast and pray, but which is less austere than a hermitage.
• poustinikA person dwelling in a poustinia.
• poyarkoviteA monoclinic-prismatic white mineral containing chlorine, mercury, and oxygen.
• praporshchikA junior officer in Imperial Russia.
• PraskovyaA female given name from Russian.
• preferansA card game, related to bridge, Boston, and whist.
• PregolyaA river in the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast exclave.
• prelestspiritual delusion, deception, conceit
• 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.
• PridnestrovieTransnistria
• PrigozhinA surname from Russian
• 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
• Produnovaa vault on the vaulting horse or vaulting table that starts with a front handspring off the gymnastics horse leading to two-and-a-half somersaults in the air, and then landing on their feet. (a three-point landing with the butt and feet is considered a fall)
• 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
• prostokvashaA thick soured milk product, similar to unsweetened yogurt but less sour, or kefir but thicker. In Russia or other former USSR republics, commercial and home-made prostokvasha comes in different varieties: "varenets" (варене́ц), "ryazhenka" (ря́женка), katyk/qatıq (каты́к), etc.
• 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.