Russian Word of the Day

The word for animal in Russian is животное. You will notice that it resembles the word живу ‘I live,’ and indeed the root жив- means ‘live.’ In fact in Old Russian the word живот meant life, although nowadays it means stomach. You'll note that животное has a neuter adjectival ending. I suspect that it originally was part of the phrase «животное существо» ‘living being,’ although that's just a guess. In any case, the word is now used as a noun, even though its endings are adjectival, and for that reason we can call it a deadjectival noun. It declines like this:

	Sg	Pl
Nom	животное	животные
Acc		животных
Gen	животного
Pre	животном
Dat	животному	животным
Ins	животным	животными

Notice particularly that since the word is neuter, the accusative singular does NOT copy the genitive singular.

Ты видишь то животное, которое лежит перед оградой?	Do you see that animal that is lying in front of the fence?
Какое красивое животное!	What a beautiful animal!
Миша любит животных. Он хочет быть ветеринаром.	Michael loves animals. He wants to be a veterinarian.
— Что это за животное? — Это утконос. Он интересен тем, что самцы утконоса ядовитые, что нетипично для млекопитающих.	“What kind of animal is that?” “It's a platypus. It's interesting in that the males are poisonous, which is atypical for mammals.”

My favorite letter of the Russian alphabet has always been Ж. When I was younger I called it "the bug letter" because it kind of looks like a bug. Conveniently, it is also the first letter of the Russian word for bug, жук. The plural of our word is, жуки. To be precise, the word means beetle, a type of insect that has hardened wing-coverings:

Жук полетел прямо на меня!
The beetle flew right at me!

If the context does not demand scientific precision, then one might use the word ‘bugs’ in English translation:

Ещё три жука влетели в комнату.
Three bugs flew into the room.

Since I am terrified of bugs, if the above examples were in real life, I would be running out of that room. Especially if the жук were a cockroach. Blech!

The diminutive form of the word is жучок in the singular and жучки in plural. You can use this form if the bug is tiny or if the context is informal. Diminutives of animal words are also often used when talking to children or when children are talking about animals.

Дима смеялся над Машей, потому что она убежала от жучков.
Dima laughed at Masha because she ran away from the bugs.

Это всего лишь маленький  жучок!
It's just a little bug!

In American slang we often refer to a minor sickness as a bug; Russians don't do this. So if you say “У меня жук в желудке” to mean “I have a stomach bug,” then Russian people will think that you literally you swallowed a beetle.

I don’t like most horror movies. There is always a naïve dummy being led into the hands of an evil master, who is driven by his utter insanity or various psychological issues. All this blood spill doesn’t do anything for me except for giving me an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Personally, I prefer suspense. I like that little chill and goose bumps you get when thinking “Can this really be possible?”

In Russian the goose bumps are called «гусиная кожа» “goose skin.” However, a more folksy word is мурашки.

The reason мурашки is used to describe this feeling is because this is also a word for ants or other little insects. Therefore, «мурашки по коже побежали», “ants ran on the skin” is probably one of the most used expressions to describe goose bumps along with the feeling causing them. (Insects running on your skin… mmmagical feeling… Gross!)

Я люблю читать, сидя у большого дуба у реки. Только вот там очень много всяких мурашек и букашек бегает...

I like reading next to a big oak tree over by the river. Too bad there are a lot of ants and other bugs there…

I am not sure what the context should be but I suppose you one could talk about a singular goose bump, мурашка, even though it is usually seen in its plural form. However, мурашка can definitely be used when talking about an ant.

Just like in English, you can get мурашки from being cold or overcome by feelings, either positive or negative.

Когда я слушаю музыку Моцарта, у меня аж мурашки по коже!	When I listen to Mozart’s music, I get goose bumps!
— Тебе Коля рассказывал, как он по темноте домой вчера возвращался? — Да, страшно так, у меня муражки по коже пробежали!	“Did Kolya tell you how he was getting home in the dark yesterday?" “Yes, so scary, I even got the goose bumps!”
Какая ужасная история! У меня мурашки выступили!	What a horrible story! I got goose bumps!
Тебе не холодно? Смотри, ты вся в мурашках!	Are you cold? Look, you are all covered in goose bumps!
Когда меня начальник к себе вызвал, у меня муражки по спине пробежали: думала, уволит!	When my boss called me in to see him, I got goose bumps: I thought he was going to fire me!

Some say that pigs make great house pets. They call them charming and intelligent with expressive personalities. However, for most of us pig pets are too exotic. I mean, would you like to be awakened by loud grunting noises?

In Russian a pig is свинья. It is a word of feminine gender; in conversational Russian свин can mean a male pig, but when people talk about pigs they usually just use the feminine form

	Sg	Pl
Nom	свинья	свиньи
Acc	свинью	свиней
Gen	свиньи
Pre	свинье	свиньях
Dat		свиньям
Ins	свиньёй	свияньми

Russian pigs don't go “oink-oink”; they go хрю-хрю, which, in my opinion, makes sense; it reminds me of grunting sounds.

Figuratively both свинья and свин can be used to describe a messy person, while свинарник, “pigpen” could describe the filthiness of their home.

Он такой неряшливый, просто свин!	He is so messy, a common pig!
Ты была у Маши дома? Такой свинарник!	Have you been to Masha's? What a pigpen!

Also, it serves as an insult following one’s shabby act. In that case this person’s actions can be called свинство “swinishness” or “rudeness.”

— Петя, какая же ты всё-таки свинья! Зачем ты моей тёте сказал, что ей надо меньше есть? — И это я свинья? Ты её вообще видела? Ей только пятачка не хватает!	“Petya, you are such a pig! Why did you tell my aunt that she needs to eat less?” “You are calling me a pig? Have you ever seen her? All she's missing is a snout!”
— Как он мог со мной так поступить на глазах у всех его друзей? — Да, это свинство с его стороны, конечно!	“How could he do this to me in front of all of his friends?” “Yes, of course, that was really rude of him.”

We have a rather well used expression, свинью подложить, which means to intentionally cause trouble or play a dirty trick on them.

Я никогда ей этого не прощу! Подруга называется - такую свинью подложила!

I will never forgive her! She calls herself a friend and then plays such a dirty trick on me!

There is a theory that this expression comes historically from the ban on eating pork, свинина in Judaism and Islam. You can imagine someone, intentionally slipping a religious Muslim some pork in order to get them in trouble or cause mischief (source).

In Russian the mumps also have something to do with pigs: we call it свинка. The name comes from the look of one’s swollen cheeks when the salivary glands get inflamed. Incidentally, свинка is the diminutive form for свинья.

— Ты не видел Катю? — Нет, она дома. Она свинкой болеет.

“Did you see Katya?” “No, she's at home. She's got the mumps.”

Another use of the word свинья is piggy bank, свинья-копилка. I found a really cute cartoon from the 1960’s that was based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, Свинья-копилка, “The Piggy Bank”.

I’ll have to admit that I can’t take credit for today’s word of the day: my kitty helped me come up with it. She woke me up this morning by tickling my nose with her tail as she lay comfortably on my pillow. Still sleepy, I tried to move the little bugger without having to get up and inevitably being forced to start my day. After a few unsuccessful attempts to redirect that fuzzy fur piece, I gave up. (It was time to get up anyway ).) Meanwhile, I thought that the word “tail” was worth writing about.

In Russian tail is «хвост». It is a noun of masculine gender. The plural form is «хвосты» and diminutive is «хвостик».

	Sg	Pl
Nom	хвост	хвосты
Acc
Gen	хвоста	хвостов
Pre	хвосте	хвостах
Dat	хвосту	хвостам
Ins	хвостом	хвостами

In Russian this word has a few meanings, just like in English. The main one is an animal's body part.

Я где-то читал, что когда кошка падает с высоты, ей хвост помогает найти равновесие, чтобы приземлиться на все четыре лапы.

"I read somewhere that when a cat falls from a height; her tail helps her find balance in order to land on all four paws."

Another meaning is ‘ponytail’ (the hairstyle). For example:

Ну что ты волосы опять в хвост собрала? Распусти - они у тебя такие красивые!	"Why did you make a ponytail again? Let your hair down – it is so beautiful!"
Моей дочке очень нравится, когда я ей волосы в хвостик собираю.	"My daughter likes when I gather her hair in a little ponytail."

Also, it could mean a tail of something very long, such as a ship or an airplane.

— Ты видел хвост самолёта Гавайских авиалиний? — Да, видел, на нём девушка нарисована с цветком в волосах.

“Did you see the Hawaiian Airlines aircraft tail?” “Yes, I did, there is a girl with a flower in her hair on it.”

Just like in English, this word can mean to chase or to follow someone.

— Полиция у нас на хвосте! Что делать будем? — Поворачивай направо на следующем перекрёстке!

“The police are on our tail! What are we going to do?” “Turn right at the next intersection!”

Also, the word «хвост» has a very interesting meaning in student life. It describes an assignment that a student has not turned in in time, and because of which his grade is pending.

Если не хотите, чтобы вас отчислили, сдайте все хвосты до первого числа!

"If you don’t want to be expelled, turn in all the late assignments before the first of the month!"

The latter sounds funny and provokes lots of jokes about students literally turning in their tails...

Here is an episode from the Russian version of Winnie the Pooh, where the donkey loses his tail!