Word origins

• YudinA surname from Russian.
• FSINThe Russian Federal Penitentiary Service.
• ZamyatinA transliteration of the Russian surname Замятин (Zamjatin).
• ArtyomA male given name, variant of Artemius.
• KrymCrimea: A geographic region and peninsula in Eastern Europe, jutting out into the Black Sea; de facto occupied and annexed in 2014 as a republic of Russia, but internationally recognized as an autonomous republic of Ukraine
• KolymaAn area in the far north-eastern region of Russia; location of Stalinist slave labour camps in the 1930s to 1950s.
• NukusThe capital city of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, within the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• KomsomolYoung Communist League, the former youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• KomsomolskA city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, on the Amur river; in full, Komsomolsk-na-Amure or Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
• GlazovA town in Udmurtia, Russia, located along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
• zelkovaA kind of tree in the elm family (genus Zelkova).
• skazkaA Russian fairy tale
• PotaninA transliteration of the Russian surname Пота́нин (Potánin)
• merzkyDirty or nasty.
• chagaA parasitic fungus of trees, usually birch, found on the circumboreal region of the Northern hemisphere, Inonotus obliquus.
• MenshevikA member of the gradualist or moderate wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party during the years preceding the Russian Revolution, when they split with the Bolsheviks; or a member of a later independent moderate-Marxist party formed in 1917.
• adaptogenAny natural herbal substance, such as ginseng, that is purported to assist the body to adapt to stress, and to exert a normalizing effect upon body functions.
• CharynA surname.
• KadetA member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of the Russian Empire.
• BorofskyA surname from Russian.
• SolovyovA transliteration of the Ukrainian surname Соловьйов (Solovʹjov).
• ChuvashiaA republic and federal subject of Russia, located in Eastern Europe. Capital: Cheboksary.
• DudayevA Chechen surname
• ZuboffA surname from Russian.
• UrgenchA city in Uzbekistan.
• sokhaRussian ard (a type of wooden plough with high, horizontal draft-poles and usually two metal-tipped ploughshares, originating in Northern Russia in medieval times and widely used in Russia and nearby countries until the early 20th century)
• GrunskyA surname from Russian.
• KhimkiA city in Moscow Oblast, Russia.
• TobolskA city in Tyumen Oblast, Russia.
• IrtyshA major river in Siberia, Russia and Kazakhstan.
• AnapaA town, a resort town in Krasnodar Krai, in southern Russia, on the Black Sea.
• ZhukA transliteration of the Ukrainian surname Жук (Žuk).
• KhokhlovA surname from Russian.
• amanatA Native American hostage taken by Russian colonists.
• SverdlovA transliteration of the Russian surname Свердлов (Sverdlov).
• ElizavetaA transliteration of the Russian female given name Елизаветa (Jelizaveta).
• TermezThe regional capital of the Surxondaryo region, Uzbekistan.
• AbashevBelonging to or pertaining to a Bronze Age era culture from the Chuvash region of Russia.See Abashevo culture
• AbazinSynonym of Abaza.
• abortoriumA hospital or hospital department that specializes in abortions.
• AcmeismA literary movement in early twentieth-century Russia, reacting against symbolism and concerned with greater immediacy in poetic language.
• active measuresPolitical warfare conducted by the Soviet or Russian government since the 1920s to advance foreign policy, including espionage, propaganda, sabotage, and assassination.
• adjikaA hot, spicy but subtly flavoured paste often used to flavour food, mainly in the Caucasian regions of Abkhazia and Samegrelo.
• AdygeyskA city in Adygea, Russia.
• 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.
• AfanasyA transliteration of the Russian male given name Афана́сий (Afanásij).
• AfrasianOf or relating to both Africa and Asia.
• agrogorodAn administrative unit in the USSR, composed of an amalgamation of collective farms.
• AgrogorodokA village, the administrative centre of Michurin Rural Okrug, Abay Raion, Karaganda Oblast, Kazakhstan.
• AgryzA city in Tatarstan, Russia.
• AK-47The Soviet-built 1947 Kalashnikov assault rifle or any similar rifle built to this design.
• akanyeA case of vowel reduction in Slavic languages; the merger of pretonic non-high vowel phonemes (/o/, /e/ and /a/).
• AkopyanA surname from Armenian.
• AlbatsA transliteration of the Russian surname Альба́ц (Alʹbác).
• aleksiteA trigonal-hexagonal scalenohedral steel gray mineral containing bismuth, lead, sulfur, and tellurium.
• AlexandropolFormer name of Gyumri.
• AleyskyA district of Altai Krai, Russia.
• alluaiviteA trigonal-hexagonal scalenohedral mineral containing calcium, chlorine, hydrogen, manganese, niobium, oxygen, silicon, sodium, and titanium.
• All-UnionDenoting a scope that included all of the Soviet Union rather than only one or several Republics of the Soviet Union.
• Alma-AtaA former name of Almaty, previous capital of Kazakhstan.
• altynAn obsolete Russian coin worth three kopeks.
• AlutorA language of Russia that belongs to the Chukchi-Koryak group of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages.
• anapaiteA triclinic-pinacoidal mineral containing calcium, hydrogen, iron, oxygen, and phosphorus.
• AndreefA surname from Russian.
• AntoninovkaFormer name of Antonivka: a village in Prostorne silrada, Jankoy Raion, the Crimea, Ukraine; known by this name until 1956.
• AntonoffA transliteration of the Bulgarian surname Антонов (Antonov).
• AntonovskayaThree hamlets in Russia.
• apparatchikA member of the Soviet apparat; a Communist bureaucrat or agent.
• ArakelovA surname from Armenian
• araksA river in Turkey, Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan and empties into Kura river.
• archiereyThe higher order of clergy in Russia, including metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops.
• arendatorIn the Russian Empire, a person who farmed local rents or revenues.
• arshinAn obsolete Russian length unit, equal to 71.12 centimeters, or 28 inches.
• ArtyomovskSynonym of Artemovsk.
• ArylakhA rural locality in Kobyaysky district, Sakha, Russia.
• ArzamasA city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia.
• asbestA town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Ural, Russia.
• AsimovaA surname.
• astatkiA thick liquid residuum obtained in the distillation of Russian petroleum, much used as fuel.
• atomgradA planned city built to facilitate the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant or other nuclear facility in the Soviet Union.
• babulyaAn Eastern European (especially Russian) grandmother.
• BadiagaA freshwater sponge (genus Spongilla) formerly used to treat bruises, pleurisy, scrofula, etc.
• 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.
• baillie brushkieThe parakeet auklet.
• BaksanA river in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia.
• BakuninismSupport for Mikhail Bakunin respectively his propositions.
• BalachkaThe dialects spoken by Cossacks living in Russia, heavily influenced by Ukrainian dialects but features akanye, like standard and central Russian.
• BalazeikinA transliteration of the Russian surname Балазейкин (Balazejkin)
• BaltiyskA town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia.
• barankaA traditional Russian dough ring, somewhat smaller than a bublik, but also thinner and drier.
• barchanAn arc-shaped shifting sand dune comprising well-sorted (uniformly sized) sand.
• barmaA regal Russian mantle or neckpiece made of gold, encrusted with diamonds and other gems.
• barometzA purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.
• barraboraAn Aleutian underground dwelling.
• bashlykA protective cone-shaped hood with lappets for wrapping around the neck, used especially by Turks and Cossacks.
• batogA rod or cane used for corporal punishment in Russia.
• baydzharakhA roughly cone shaped rock formation, usually consisting of siltstone, peat or loam.
• BayevA surname used in Eastern Europe and Russia.
• BayevskyA district of Altai Krai, Russia.
• BeetewkA type of Russian heavy draft horse, originally from Voronezh guberniya on the Bityug river.