Word origins

• GrafovkaA settlement, the administrative centre of the rural settlement of the same name in Krasnaya Yaruga Raion, Belgorod Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• Great Patriotic WarThe German-Soviet war (a portion of World War II fought between the USSR and Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945).
• grenkiToasts or croutons fried lightly in butter or vegetable oil, until crisp and brown.
• GrischaA diminutive of the male given name Grigorij or Grigori, from Russia and other Slavic countries, equivalent to English Greg.
• grivnaa unit of currency and weight in medieval Rus.
• groudA heap, or mathematical generalization of a group, in abstract algebra.
• guberniyaA major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire; a governorate or province.
• GumenyukA transliteration of the Russian surname Гуменюк (Gumenjuk).
• gusliA plucked psaltery-like string instrument, usually played on the lap and sometimes created with table legs so that the musician can play it seated next to the instrument, originating in ancient Russian music.
• hardbassA subgenre of electronic music from Russia, characterized by heavy basslines and a fast tempo.
• 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.
• holluschickieA bachelor seal; a young male seal which is prevented from mating by its herd's older males, mated bulls defending their territory.
• hydromanipulatorA hydraulic arm used for lifting heavy loads, typically found on trucks and other large heavy-duty vehicles.
• hypodeaconSynonym of subdeacon.
• IglinoA rural locality in Bashkortostan, Russia.
• IgnatyA transliteration of the Russian male given name Игна́тий (Ignátij).
• ikraRoe of the salmon.
• IllarionovaA surname from Russian
• 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.
• imaginismA Russian avant-garde poetic movement, founded in 1918, whose members created poetry based on sequences of arresting and uncommon images.
• IndigirkaA river in Sakha, Russia.
• indricothereAny member of the extinct genus †Indricotherium of mammals, from the Oligocene and Miocene epochs
• inogorodnieNon-Cossack immigrants to Cossack-controlled land in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• IoniA large freshwater lake in Chukotsky District, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• irbissnow leopard (large feline mammal, Panthera uncia, native to mountain ranges of central Asia)
• ispravnicChief police officer of a district in pre-revolutionary Russia (1775–1862).
• IturupThe largest and northernmost island in the southern Kuril Islands, disputed between Japan and Russia.
• IulianovA transliteration of the Russian surname Иулиа́нов (Iuliánov).
• IuliyanovA transliteration of the Russian surname Иулия́нов (Iulijánov).
• Ivan IvanovichAn anonymous or stereotypical Russian man; a Russian John Smith, John Q. Public or Joe Q. Public.
• 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.
• izbaa Russian log hut
• izhitsaThe obsolete Cyrillic letter Ѵ, ѵ, formerly used in Russian to represent upsilon in borrowed words.
• jarovizationSynonym of vernalization.
• Jewish Autonomous OblastA federal subject, an autonomous oblast in the Far East of Russia.
• Jewish Autonomous RegionSynonym of Jewish Autonomous Oblast
• KabardiaA former country in the Caucasus region of Europe; historically home to the Kabardians.
• KadyroviteA member of the 141st Special Motorized Regiment, or any other formation subordinate to Ramzan Kadyrov.
• KadyrovtsyKadyrovites (collectively).
• KalgaA rural locality in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia.
• kalistrontiteA trigonal-hexagonal scalenohedral colorless mineral containing oxygen, potassium, strontium, and sulfur.
• kamarinskayaA traditional Russian folk dance.
• kapishcheA pre-Christian shrine from Slavic cultures, usually in the form of a field, a sacred fire, and an idol of a god.
• Kapustin YarA military reservation in Kapustinoyarsky, Akhtubinsky district, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Seat: Znamensk
• KarachevA town in Karachevsky urban settlement, Karachevsky Raion, Bryansk Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia, first mentioned in 1146.
• KarakulovA transliteration of the Russian surname Каракулов (Karakulov).
• KaratauA mountain range in Kazakhstan, the westernmost extension of the Tian Shan.
• KarpakA surname from Russian.
• kashimA traditional, large, semisubterranean men's communal house of the Yup'ik, Inuit, and Deg Hit'an Athabaskans, in which communal and ceremonial events are hosted.
• katorgaA tsarist or Soviet labour camp.
• kazatskySynonym of kozachok
• kendirA strong bast fibre from the plant Apocynum venetum.
• Khabarovsk KraiA krai of Russia, in the Russian Far East.
• KhaimovA surname from Russian.
• KhakasA Turkic-speaking people in South Central Siberia, who lives along the upper reach of the Yenisei River north of the Sayan Mountains.
• KhalkhaA member of a subgroup of Mongol people, constituting the bulk of the population of Mongolia.
• khalturaBlack-market or low-quality work.
• KhamdamovA transliteration of the Uzbek surname Xamdamov.
• Khan TengriA mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range in Inner and Central Asia.
• Khanty-MansiyskA city, the administrative center of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• KharbinSynonym of Harbin.
• KharpAn urban-type settlement in the Priuralsky District, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
• kharzaSynonym of yellow-throated marten.
• KhasanAn urban-type settlement in Khasansky district, Primorsky Krai, Russia.
• KhasanskyA district of Primorsky Krai, Russia.
• KhatangaA river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.
• khleb(A type of) Russian bread.
• KhlystA member of an underground religious movement that split off from the Russian Orthodox Church in 17th century.
• kholodetsA pork jelly or aspic traditionally eaten in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
• kholopA feudally dependent person in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries.
• KhorgasA county-level city of Ili, Xinjiang autonomous region, China on the border with Kazakhstan.
• khorovoda Slavic art form, a combination of a circle dance and chorus singing, similar to chorea of ancient Greece, also in Romania (horă)
• KhotetovaA hamlet in Koptevskoye rural settlement, Znamensky Raion, Oryol Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia.
• KhotetovoA village in Yamskoye rural settlement, Bolkhovsky Raion, Oryol Oblast, Central Federal District, Russia, founded in or before the fourteenth century.
• khramulyaAny one of several species of freshwater cyprinids in the genus Capoeta.
• KhristoforA male given name from Russian.
• khrushchevkaA kind of low-cost apartment building constructed in the Soviet Union since the early 1960s.
• khutorA single-homestead rural settlement of Eastern Europe.
• kibitkaA Russian type of telega or sleigh with a (usually rounded) cover over the passenger seats.
• kikimoraa female house spirit in the Slavic mythology
• kindjalA kind of short sword or dagger used in Russia.
• kinokA member of a 1920s Soviet cinematographer collective.
• Kipchaka member of a nomadic Turkic tribal confederation that overran the Eurasian steppe in mid-11th century.
• KirillitsaThe Cyrillic alphabet.
• KirilovA surname.
• KirsanovA Russian surname.
• kiselA dessert (sometimes consumed as a drink) made from fruit or berry juice and thickened with starch, common in Slavic and Baltic countries as well as Finland and Sweden.
• KislyA transliteration of the Belarusian surname Кі́слы (Kísly).
• KitezhA city in Russian folklore that was believed to have disappeared under a lake, to avoid being conquered by the Mongols.
• KlyazmaA river wholly within Russia, originating near Solnechnogorsk (Moscow Oblast) in the Moscow Uplands, whence it flows into and through Vladimir Oblast, approximately delineating its border with Ivanovo Oblast from near Repniki to near Mstyora, before returning to Vladimir’s interior, and thereafter approximately delineating its border with Nizhny Novgorod Oblast from near the point at which the river is bridged by the Volga Highway (E22) to its confluence with the Oka, whereof it forms a left tributary.
• klyukvaIgnorant stereotypes and tall tales in Western depictions of Russia and Russians.
• knyaginyaA Slavic princess consort.
• koekchuchmale-bodied person who dresses and lives as a woman
• kokoshnikA traditional Russian headdress worn by women and girls to accompany the sarafan.
• 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.
• kolkhozA farming collective in the former Soviet Union.
• kolkhoznikOne who works on a kolkhoz.
• kolobokA Russian round loaf.