List of English words of Russian origin[from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]List of English words of Russian origin[from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]Babushka (Russian: б бушка IPA аа [ babuˈ ʂk ]ə (Russian "grandmother") 1. A Russian grandmother 2. A headscarf folded diagonally and tied under the chinBalalaika (Russian: балал йка, pronounced аа [b lə ɐˈlajk ]ə ) (Tartar origin) A triangle-shaped guitar-like musical instrument with three strings.Bistro (possibly from Russian bystro "quickly" via French) A small bar or restaurant.Cosmonaut (Russian: космонавт (IPA [k smə ɐˈnaft]) A Russian astronaut.Gulag (Russian: Главное Управление Исправительно—Трудовых Лагерей и колоний) (Russian acronym for Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Administration (or Directorate) of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies.) 1. (historical) In the former Soviet Union, an administered system of corrective labor camps and prisons. 2. (figurative) A coercive institution, or an oppressiveenvironment.Intelligentsia (Russian: интеллигенция) (from Latin intelligence, intelligentia from inter "between", and legare "to choose") 1. The part of a nation (originally in pre-revolutionary Russia) having aspirations to intellectual activity, a section of society regarded as possessing culture and political initiative; plural the members of this section of a nation or society. 2. In the former Soviet Union, the intellectual elite.Kazakh (Russian Казак) (Russian, late 16th century, kazak diminutive of cossack, from Turkic meaning "vagabond" or "nomad", name of the ethnicity was transliterated into English from Russian spelling. The self-appellation is "Kazak" or "Qazaq".) 1. Member of a people living chiefly in Kazakhstan. Traditionally nomadic, the Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims. 2. The Turkic language of these people.Knout (Russian 'knut' - кнут perhaps from Swedish knutpiska, a kind of whip, or Germanic origin Knute, Dutch Knoet, Anglo-Saxon cnotta, English knot) A whip formerly used as an instrument of punishment in Russia; the punishment inflicted by the knout.Kopeck (Russian copeck копейка, kopeyka; derives from the Russian kop'yo (копьё) "spear" a reference to the image of a rider with a spear on the coins minted by Moscow after the capture of Novgorod in 1478) A Russian currency, a subunit of Ruble, 100 kopecks is equal to 1 ruble.Kremlin (Russian: Кремль, IPA: [krʲɛmlʲ]) (Russian for "fortress", "citadel" or "castle") A citadel or fortified enclosure within a Russian town of city, especially the the Kremlin of Moscow; (the Kremlin) Metonym for the government of the former USSR, and to a lesser of extent of Russian post- Soviet government.Mammoth (Russian мамонт mamont, from Yakut mamont, probably mama, "earth", perhaps from the notion that the animal burrowed in the ground) Any various large, hairy,extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus, especially the Wooly Mammoth. 2. (adjective) Something of great size.Matryoshka also Russian nested doll, stacking doll, Babushka doll, or Russian doll (Russian: матрёшка, IPA: [mɐˈtrʲoʂk ]ə . A set of brightly colored wooden dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside another. "Matryoshka" is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which is traditionally associated with a corpulent, robust, rustic Russian woman.Molotov Cocktail also petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb (Named after Vyacheslav Molotov 1890-1986, Soviet politician born Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skryabin; the term was coined by the Finns in 1940 during their Winter War with the Soviet Union. While dropping bombs on Helsinki, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov claimed the Soviets were only dropping food and drink to their comrades. The analogy of food and drink with bombs led the Finns to coin the black humorous term Molotov bread basket for an incendiary bomb, and later Molotov cocktail for their improvised gasoline-filled bottle with a slow burning wick that is ignited before it is thrown. The weapon however was first used in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, and later used by the Chinese against Japan in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War) Generic name for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons, usually consisting a bottle filled with gasoline, wrapped in a saturated rag or plugged with a wick, then ignited and hurled as a grenade.Pogrom (from Russian: погром; from "громить" gromit to destroy by violent means) 1. (early 20th century) A riot against Jews. 2. (general) An organized, officially tolerated attack on any community or group. 3. (transitive verb) Massacre or destroy in a pogrom.Ruble (Rouble) (From Russian rubl, from Old Russian rubli "cut" or "piece", probably originally a piece cut from a silver ingot bar (grivna) from Russian рубить, rubiti meaning "to chop". Historically, "ruble" was a piece of a certain weight chopped off a silver ingot (grivna), hence the name The Russian unit of currency.Sable (from Russian sobol - соболь, ultimately from Persian samor) A carnivorous mammal of the Mustelidae family native to northern Europe and Asia.Samovar (Russian: самовар, IPA: [s mə ɐˈvar] (Russian samo "self" and varit "to boil" hence "self-boil") A Russian tea urn, with an internal heating device to keep the water at boiling point.Shapka (Russian (шáпкa), from the Russian language word for "hat") A Ushanka.Sputnik (Russian name: Спутник) (Russian literally "travelling companion" from s with put "way" or "journey" + noun suffix nik person connected with something) 1. (historical)A series of unarmed artificial earth satellites launced by the Soviet Union from 1957 to the early 1960s; especially Sputnik I which on October 4, 1957 became the first man-made object to orbit the earth. 2. (in Bridge) A take-out double of a suit overcall of one's partner's opening bid, in full Sputnik double.Steppe (Russian: степь - [sʲtʲepʲ], Ukrainian: степ - /stɛp/, Kazakh: дала - /dɑlɑ/), pronounced in English as /stɛp/, (Russian step) Any of the vast level grassy usually treeless plains of South East Europe and Siberia.Taiga (originally from Mongolian) (Russian: тайга) The swampy, coniferous forests of high northern latitudes, especially referring to that between the tundra and the steppes of Siberia.Troika