boiarin

B3O1I1A1R1I1N1

A form of boyar — A member of a rank of aristocracy (second only to princes) in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia and Romania.

Scrabble 9

Meanings

nounboiarin (plural boiarins or boiare)

plural boiarins · plural boiare

  1. alternativeAlternative form of boyar.

    JOHN M[ILTON] THAYER—Something of a boiarin; a physical and intellectual autochthon, but not exolete by over use.

    1871, A. C. Edmunds, Pen Sketches of Nebraskans […], Lincoln, Neb.: R. & J. Wilbur, […], →OCLC, page 366
    2 more examples

    And taking counſell with the Boiarins, at that time remayning with Suiskey [i.e., Vasili IV Ivanovich Shuisky] in the chiefe Citie, we ſent our Meſſengers to his Maieſtie at that time, being at Smolensko, viz. Michael Salticoue, and others, requeſting that his Maieſtie would grant vs his Sonne to be our Lord. […] How the Boiarins handled other Gentlemen, and principall perſons of the Ruſſe Religion, although more inclined vnto them: but eſpecially the Officers and Seruants of the Wors, as alſo ſuch as had fled over.

    1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “The Points of the Embassage of the Russian Messenger Sent to His Sacred Maiestie, Briefly Collected”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 4th book, page 788, lines 40–43 and 56–58

    “Our travelers,” he [Mikhail Pogodin] wrote, “were captivated only when the Russian spirit was realized before their eyes, when they saw the way our pretty Russian girls and our fine fellows (molodtsy) were dressed. They appeared before us in their grandfathers’ kaftans—staid boiars, majestic boiarins. What delight, what splendor, what variety, what beauty, what poetry!”

    2010, Richard Wortman, “[Fedor] Solntsev, [Alexey] Olenin, and the Development of a Russian National Aesthetic”, in Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, editor, Visualizing Russia: Fedor Solntsev and Crafting a National Past (Russian History and Culture; 4), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 40

Origin

  1. Russianбоя́рин
  2. Englishboiarin

From Russian боя́рин (bojárin).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

boiarin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boiarin

MLA

“boiarin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boiarin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boiarin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boiarin.

Source: boiarin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.