Meanings
- pluralplural of balalaika
1 more example
Suddenly the signal is given, and the orchestra begins to play. This orchestra deserves a special mention. It consisted of eight musicians: two violins, one of which was the property of a convict, while the other had been borrowed from outside; three balalaiki, made by the convicts themselves; two guitars, and a tambourine. The violins sighed and shrieked, and the guitars were worthless, but the balalaiki were remarkably good; and the agile fingering of the artists would have done honour to the cleverest executant.
1888, Henry Sutherland Edwards (translator), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (author), The House of the Dead; or, Prison Life in Siberia, London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. & New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. (1911), part I, chapter xii: “The Performance”, page 181
Origin
- Russianбалала́йки
- Englishbalalaiki
From the Russian балала́йки (balalájki), the nominative plural form of балала́йка (balalájka).
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Cite this entry
balalaiki. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balalaiki
“balalaiki.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balalaiki. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “balalaiki,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/balalaiki.
Source: balalaiki on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.