History Исто́рия
13 Russian words on the topic of history — each with a picture, an audio recording and an example sentence. Kings, empires and revolutions. One word rules them all: исто́рия is both “history” and “story”.
| Picture | English | Russian · Ру́сский | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | history | исто́рия | 🔀 Several meaningsMeans both 'history' and 'story' — Russian uses one word for both. |
 | past | про́шлое | ⚠️ GenderAn adjective used as a noun — declines like one: в про́шлом (in the past). про́шлый год = last year. |
 | king | коро́ль | ⚠️ GenderMasculine despite the soft sign: genitive короля́. Russian rulers were царь; коро́ль is used for foreign kings. |
 | queen | короле́ва | The chess queen is ферзь, not короле́ва. A Russian tsarina is цари́ца. |
 | empire | импе́рия | 🔗 Word familySame family: импера́тор (emperor). Note the stress: импе́рия. |
 | war | война́ | ⚠️ GenderPlural: во́йны (the stress moves). |
 | revolution | револю́ция | The suffix -ция matches English -tion and is always feminine. |
 | battle | би́тва | 🔗 Word familySame family: бить (to beat, to strike). |
 | century | век | ⚠️ GenderPlural: века́. 🔀 Several meaningsAlso 'age': Сре́дние века́ = the Middle Ages. |
 | ancient | дре́вний | A soft-stem adjective (дре́вняя, дре́внее). ста́рый means merely 'old', дре́вний is truly ancient. |
 | era | эпо́ха | 🔗 Word familyCognate of 'epoch', but in Russian it's the everyday word for 'era'. Stress эпо́ха. |
 | conquest | завоева́ние | 🔗 Word familySame family as война́ (war): завоева́ть = to conquer. Nouns in -ние are neuter. |
 | independence | незави́симость | 🔗 Word familyLiterally 'non-dependence': зави́сеть от = to depend on. ⚠️ GenderNouns in -ость are feminine. |
See also:ReligionWar