Word origins

• 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.
• TinkoffA surname of Russian origin
• TitievA transliteration of the Russian surname Титиев (Titijev)
• TmutarakanA medieval Kievan Rus' principality and trading town located on the Taman Peninsula.
• TobolA surname.
• tolkachIn the Soviet Union, an employee whose role was to use informal connections to make it possible for their enterprise to meet or manipulate the government-imposed targets.
• tolkushaA traditional Kamchatkan and Chukchi food made of dried fish meat or roe mixed with fat and berries and extended with edible plant bulbs or stems, ground and pounded together for a long time to yield a white paste.
• tolstovkakosovorotka (type of shirt)
• TolstykhA surname.
• TolyattiA city in Samara Oblast, Russia.
• TonskyA surname from Russian.
• topshurA plucked two-string lute traditionally used by the Altai people.
• TorzhokA town in Tver Oblast, Russia.
• totchkaA Russian unit of length, equivalent to 0.01 inches.
• tovarishComrade, especially with reference to the former USSR.
• TrakhtenbergA surname from German.
• 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.
• trepakA traditional brisk Russian and Ukrainian folk dance.
• treshchotkaan old Russian percussion instrument
• TroianovskiA transliteration of the Russian surname Трояновский (Trojanovskij).
• 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.
• Tsar BombaA 50-megaton thermonuclear bomb, detonated by the Soviet Union in October 1961. It was the biggest nuclear bomb ever exploded.
• tsarevichA son of a tsar, a prince in Russia or Bulgaria.
• tsarevnaThe daughter of a tsar.
• tsaritsaa tsarina
• TsarnaevA surname.
• tselinaA "virgin land": an underdeveloped, scarcely populated, high-fertility region of land often covered with chernozem soil in Russia and Kazakhstan.
• tsesarevichCrown prince (heir apparent or presumptive) in the Russian Empire, from 1797 till 1917.
• TsiolkovskiyA transliteration of the Russian surname Циолковский (Ciolkovskij).
• TsiolkovskyA transliteration of the Russian surname Циолковский (Ciolkovskij).
• tsokanyeA shift in some Slavic languages and dialects that causes /tʃ/ to merge into /ts/.
• tubeteikaA cap worn in Central Asia, typically by Turkic peoples.
• tukulanA kind of sand dune, a relief form shaped by aeolian processes of the Central Yakutian Lowland, Yakutia, Russian Federation.
• TungusA member of any Tungusic people.
• Turiy RogA village in Khankaysky district, Primorsky Krai, Russia, on the northwestern shore of Lake Khanka near the border with Mishan, Jixi, Heilongjiang, China.
• tusovkaA group of Russian youths who met in public as part of a hippie-like subculture of the 1980s and 1990s.
• tutovkaA distilled alcoholic liquor made from fermented mulberries, traditional in the South Caucasus, especially among the Armenians of Karabakh.
• tvorogA soft curd cheese, traditionally made in regions of Central, Eastern and (less often) Northern Europe.
• 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.
• TyndaA town in Amur Oblast, Russia.
• UbykhiaThe former political unit of the Ubykh people, or the region they governed, centered on modern Sochi, Russia.
• uchastokAn administrative division of the Russian Empire and Russian SFSR.
• udarnikA shock worker; a super-productive worker in the Soviet Union and the other countries from the Soviet Bloc.
• UdodA transliteration of the Russian surname Удод (Udod).
• UeleA river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• ukaseAn authoritative proclamation; an edict, especially decreed by a Russian czar or later ruler.
• ukhaA clear Russian fish soup.
• UkrainianizeTo render Ukrainian in character; impose Ukrainian culture, language, or ethnic identity.
• Ukrainian Soviet Socialist RepublicThe Bolshevik state of Ukraine (1919–91), a constituent republic of the Soviet Union (1922–91), member of the United Nations since 1945.
• Ulan-UdeThe capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia.
• UlchA people of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.
• UlyanovA transliteration of the Russian surname Улья́нов (Ulʹjánov).
• UmbaA river on the Kola Peninsula, Murmansk Oblast, Russia.
• 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.
• UrayA town in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• 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
• urbechA thick, sticky paste made from ground raw or dried seeds (such as flax, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin), apricot kernels or nuts, traditionally used in Dagestani cuisine.
• ureiliteAn achondrite composed mostly of olivine and clinobronzite with some diamond or graphite.
• urkaA common criminal in Russia.
• UrozhaynoyeA village in Urozhayny rural settlement, Sovetsky Raion, Altai Krai, Siberian Federal District, Russia.
• ushankaA traditional Russian fur cap with earflaps.
• UshkoffA transliteration of the Russian surname Ушков (Uškov).
• ushkuinikA medieval Novgorodian pirate who led a life similar to that of a Viking.
• Ust-AbakanskoyeFormer name of Abakan (1823–1931).
• Ust-LugaOne of Russia's major ports, near Saint Petersburg.
• uyezdAn administrative subdivision of Muscovy, the Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR, in use from the 13th century.
• VainakhiaA historical region of the northern Caucasus of Russia.
• valenkiTraditional Russian felt boots.
• valenokA traditional Russian felt boot.
• varenyeA kind of sweet fruit preserve.
• VasilevskyA surname from Russian.
• vatrushkaA sort of small, round pastry filled with cottage cheese, popular in Eastern Europe.
• VayntrubA surname.
• vekselA promissory note or bill of exchange, particularly in Russia and Ukraine: a security which entitles its owner to claim certain property of its issuer (the debtor).
• Veliky NovgorodA city, the administrative center of Novgorod Oblast, Russia.
• VenediktA transliteration of the Russian male given name Венеди́кт (Venedíkt).
• VeniaminA transliteration of the Russian male given name Вениами́н (Veniamín).
• VerbitskyA transliteration of the Russian surname Вербицкий (Verbickij).
• VerkhoyanskA town in Sakha, Russia, known for being one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth.
• vershokAn old Russian unit of length, approximately 4.4 centimetres.
• verstA Russian unit of length, equivalent to about 1.07 kilometres or about ²⁄₃ of a mile.
• VetrenoA village in Olgovsky selsoviet, Korenevsky Raion, Kursk Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• VichugaA town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia.
• viddyA video or video recording.
• vinegretA type of Russian salad with diced cooked vegetables (red beets, potatoes, carrots), chopped onions, as well as sauerkraut or brined pickles or both, and sometimes other ingredients such as green peas or beans.
• VinogradoffA surname from Russian.
• VishnevkaA hamlet in Komarovsky selsoviet, Korenevsky Raion, Kursk Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• VitkinA surname from Russian.
• vityazA Russian noble knight who rode a horse.
• VladimiroffA transliteration of the Bulgarian surname Владимиров (Vladimirov).
• voblaA Caspian roach (Rutilus caspicus), formerly considered a subspecies of the common roach.
• vodyanoyA type of water sprite from Slavic mythology.
• voenkomatA military commissariat in Russia and other post-Soviet countries.
• voiskoA self-governing administrative community of Cossacks in the Russian Empire.
• VolchokA surname from Belarusian.
• voliafreedom; lack of restraint or constriction.
• volkhvA pre-Christian priest from Slavic cultures.