Russian

English

Alternative forms
  • (abbreviation): Ru.

Etymology

Medieval Latin (11th century) Russiānus, the adjective of Russia, a Latinization of the Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). Attested in English (both as a noun and as an adjective) from the 16th century. By surface analysis, Russia +‎ -an.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɹʌʃ(ə)n/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌʃən

Adjective

Russian (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to Russia.
    • 2017 February 19, “Putin”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 2, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
      So that is the official line: you’re shit, we’re shit, everything’s shit, never try for a better world because it doesn’t exist. That is not only bleak, I think it’s also the working title of every Russian novel ever written.
  2. (dated) Of or pertaining to the Soviet Union.
  3. (dated) Of or pertaining to Rus.
  4. Of or pertaining to the Russian language.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations
of or pertaining to the Soviet Union — see Soviet

Noun

Russian (countable and uncountable, plural Russians)

  1. (countable) A citizen of Russia.
  2. (countable) An ethnic Russian: a member of the East Slavic ethnic group which is native to, and constitutes the majority of the population of, Russia.
  3. (countable, obsolete) A person from the Soviet Union
  4. (uncountable) The Russian language.
    • 2015, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace, “The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict”, in International Law Studies, US Naval War College‎, volume 91, number 361, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, page 393:
      The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.196
  5. A domestic cat breed.
  6. A cat of this breed.
  7. (juggling, rare in the singular) A type of juggling ball with a hard outer shell, filled with salt, sand or another similar substance.
    • 2011, jamescoutry24, “Beanbags > Russian”, in rec.juggling (Usenet):
      Ok, I do think I am starting to get used to it, but you have to admit, if youve[sic] been juggling bags and then start juggling Russians, they feel sooo lopsided to juggle at first!
  8. (MLE, slang) Someone from or around Brandon Estate (also known as Moscow).
  9. (MLE, slang) A gun (due to some preference for Russian arms with gang members).
  10. (South Africa) A kind of sausage.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Further reading

See also
  • Appendix:Russian Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Russian
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