20 Russian Slang Words To Help You Speak Like A Local
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The Russian language has been called many things, including “difficult” and “mysterious”. Indeed, understanding the language Russians use in their daily life might be hard for someone who doesn’t know the multitude of slang words used in the language.
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Table of contents
- 1. Бабки [babki] – “Money”
- 2. Тусить [tusit’] – “To hang out”
- 3. Чувак/Чувиха [chuvak/chuviha] – “Dude” / dated term for a woman
- 4. Чёрт [chiort] – “Devil”
- 5. Хавать [havat’] – “To eat”
- 6. Бухать [buhat’] – “To drink alcohol; to booze”
- 7. Грузить [gruzit’] – “To bore with too much talking”
- 8. Бомба [bomba] – “Amazing”
- 9. Достал/Достала [dostal/dostala] – “Annoyed someone”
- 10. Всё ништяк. [Vsio nishtiak.] – “It’s all good.”
- 11. Мне до лампочки. [Mne do lampochki.] – “I don’t care.”
- 12. Мне фиолетово. [Mne fioletovo.] – “I don’t care.”
- 13. Офигеть! [Ofiget’!] – “Wow!”
- 14. Кайфонуть [Kayfonut’] – “To have a pleasant pastime”
- 15. Давай побазарим! [Davay pobazarim!] – “Let’s have a chat.”
- 16. Да не гони! [Da ne goni!] – “Seriously?”
- 17. Да ну на фиг! [Da nu na fig!] – “I don’t want it.”
- 18. Ни фига себе! [Ni figa sebe!] – “Wow!”
- 19. Это полный зашквар! [Ato polnyi zashkvar!] – “This is totally cringe.”
- 20. Ты спалился! [Ty spalilsia!] – “You got spotted!”
- Final Thoughts on Russian Slang
Here are the twenty frequently used Russian slang words to get you started:
1. Бабки [babki] – “Money”
The literal, somewhat rude meaning is “grandmas”, but the actual meaning is usually “money” or “bucks”. Here’s an example:
Бабки есть? [Babki yest’?] – “Got some money?”
This word is mostly used in casual talk, so you will never hear it from someone speaking in an official manner. In fact, the word бабки is also used by criminals both large and small.
If you watch some modern Russian movies or TV shows, you will notice that the majority of law-breakers use this word for money rather than using the usual деньги [den’gi] .
2. Тусить [tusit’] – “To hang out”
The word тусить doesn’t have a literal meaning and is always used as a verb that means “to hang out” or “to party”.
Мы тусим. [My tusim] – “We’re hanging out.”
Most Russians love hanging out with their friends or family. The word тусить can be used in almost any situation to describe the action of hanging out with other people, but you should still keep in mind that it’s a slang word.
3. Чувак/Чувиха [chuvak/chuviha] – “Dude” / dated term for a woman
Чувак can mean “dude”, “guy”, “pal”, or “mate”. The low-register, dated чувиха refers to a woman, but it is not a neutral feminine counterpart learners can safely use like “dudette” or “gal”.
Чувак со мной работает. [Chuvak so mnoy rabotaet.] – “The guy works with me.”
The feminine version of the word dates back to the 1920s, but during that time, it meant “prostitute”. It entered broader slang in the 1960s, but it is now dated and low-register rather than a common counterpart to the masculine word.
4. Чёрт [chiort] – “Devil”
The literal meaning of чёрт is “devil”, but it is more commonly used as an exclamation similar to “Shoot!” or “Damn!”
Чёрт, я забыла об этом. [Chiort, ya zabyla ob atom.] – “Shoot, I forgot about it.”
The word чёрт is used both by young and old alike. It is a mild curse or expletive rather than obscene mat, and people use it much like English “damn” or “shoot” in unfortunate situations.
5. Хавать [havat’] – “To eat”
The word хавать only has one meaning – “to eat”. But this verb takes on a more casual form as it is a slang word.
Идём хавать. [Idiom havat’.] – “Let’s go eat.”
There are many synonyms in the English language that mean the same thing – “to eat”. They include grub, pig out, chow down, and others. As long as it’s a casual word or phrase for eating, its equivalent will probably be хавать in Russian.
6. Бухать [buhat’] – “To drink alcohol; to booze”
The low-colloquial Russian verb бухать means “to drink alcohol” or “to booze”.
Пошли бухнём. [Poshli buhniom.] – “Let’s go drink.”
There are some other variations that have the same base including бухой [buhoy] (“drunk”) and набухаться [nabuhatsa] (“to get drunk”).
7. Грузить [gruzit’] – “To bore with too much talking”
Literally, it means “to load”, but as a slang word, грузить means “to overload mentally”, “to bore with too much talking” or “to confuse”.
Хватит меня грузить! [Hvatit menia gruzit’!] – “Stop overloading me!”
When someone keeps boring you with their long and endless story or tries to load you with their troubles, you can always use the word грузить to express how you feel and ask them to stop.
8. Бомба [bomba] – “Amazing”
This word is very similar to the English word “bomb” and they actually have the same meaning.
However, бомба also means “the bomb” or “amazing” when used casually.
Это место просто бомба! [Ato mesto prosto bomba!] – “This place is the bomb!”
More often than not, using this word to show your awe of something will express your feelings quite well as it is best applied in situations when you’ve been blown away (in a good sense). By the way, did you know that Russian is one of the most popular, Бомба languages in the world?
9. Достал/Достала [dostal/dostala] – “Annoyed someone”
Literal senses of this verb include “to reach” and “to get”, while the slang sense means “to annoy someone intensely” or “to make someone fed up”.
Ты меня достал! [Ty menia dostal!] – “You’ve annoyed me!”
By using this verb, you can show that someone has annoyed or irritated you quite a bit.
10. Всё ништяк. [Vsio nishtiak.] – “It’s all good.”
“When I went to Russia, I couldn’t understand what this phrase meant at first. But once they explained it to me, I started using it more often in my daily conversations. “It’s a really fun phrase,” says Neightan White, travel blogger from IsAccurate.
The phrase всё ништяк is the equivalent of the phrase “it’s all good”, but the Russian version has a more casual tone to it.
Я разобрался. Всё ништяк. [Ya razobralsia. Vsio nishtiak.] – “I’ve figured it out. It’s all good.”
Use this phrase to show that everything is fine and you are feeling good.
11. Мне до лампочки. [Mne do lampochki.] – “I don’t care.”
If you take it literally, it won’t make any sense as it means “to me to the lightbulb”. But this phrase actually means “I don’t care”.
Мне до лампочки, придёт он или нет. [Mne do lampochki, pridiot on ili net.] – “I don’t care whether he comes or not.”
You could say that this is a very expressive way to show your indifference to something.
12. Мне фиолетово. [Mne fioletovo.] – “I don’t care.”
This phrase is very similar to the previous one and actually has the same meaning.
Да мне фиолетово вообще. [Da mne fioletovo voobshe.] – “I don’t really care.”
You can use this phrase and мне до лампочки interchangeably.
13. Офигеть! [Ofiget’!] – “Wow!”
There is no literal meaning for this word, but it means something along the lines of “wow” or “I can’t believe it”.
Офигеть! Никогда не ожидала. [Ofiget’! Nikogda ne ozhidala.] – “Wow! I never expected that.”
The Russian word фига [figa] can mean the “fig” hand gesture; it is not equivalent to the English F-word. Vasmer traces it through Polish and German to Latin ficus (“fig”). Офигеть belongs to the same word family.
14. Кайфонуть [Kayfonut’] – “To have a pleasant pastime”
This verb originates from the word кайф [kayf] which is a slang term for “pleasure”. Consequently, кайфонуть means “to have a pleasant pastime”.
Я кайфонул. [Ya kayfonul.] – “I had a nice time.” or “I enjoyed myself.”
Originally, this word was used to describe the state one experiences being on drugs, but then its meaning transformed into a more acceptable one. You can use it for anything from enjoying chocolate to having a good time hiking. Try using it during a language exchange.
15. Давай побазарим! [Davay pobazarim!] – “Let’s have a chat.”
The related noun базар can mean “market” and, in jargon, “conversation”; the slang phrase means “let’s talk” or “let’s have a chat”.
Давай выйдем, побазарим. [Davay vyidem, pobazarim.] – “ Let’s go out, have a chat.”
More often than not, you will hear this phrase used by criminals, though normal casual chats may also have it here and there.
16. Да не гони! [Da ne goni!] – “Seriously?”
You would think that this phrase means “don’t go/drive fast”, but it actually has four other meanings similar to each other.
Да не гони! Серьёзно? [Da ne goni! Seryozno?] – “I can’t believe you! Seriously?”
The meanings vary from “you are saying something unreal” and “I don’t/can’t believe you” to “you are saying something I believe is not true” and “stop lying”.
17. Да ну на фиг! [Da nu na fig!] – “I don’t want it.”
As you may have noticed, this is one of the variations with the word фига. The phrase means “I don’t want it” or “‘eff it”.
Да ну на фиг! Не буду я это делать! [Da nu na fig! Ne budu ya ato delat’!] – ”’Eff it! I won’t do it!”
You could also extend the meaning to “‘eff it, I don’t want to deal with it”.
18. Ни фига себе! [Ni figa sebe!] – “Wow!”
Yet another useful variation, ни фига себе, is similar to офигеть and is used to express a “wow” reaction.
Ни фига себе! Он это реально сделал! [Ni figa sebe! On ato real’no sdelal!] – “Wow! He really did it!”
You can use this phrase every time you are awed or surprised by something, but if you are looking for a less striking phrase, ничего себе [nichevo sebe] is a nice alternative.
19. Это полный зашквар! [Ato polnyi zashkvar!] – “This is totally cringe.”
This phrase describes something as thoroughly shameful, embarrassing, or cringe.
Это полный зашквар! Я не знаю, что делать. [Ato polnyi zashkvar! Ya ne znayu shot delat’.] – “This is totally cringe! I don’t know what to do.”
You can also say it about somebody who did something shameful, embarrassing, or socially unacceptable.
20. Ты спалился! [Ty spalilsia!] – “You got spotted!”
The last word on our list literally means “you burned yourself”, but that’s actually not what it is used for. Ты спалился is the equivalent of “you’ve been busted” or “you got spotted”.
Ты спалился на экзамене. [Ty spalilsia na ekzamene.] – “You were busted on the exam.”
More often than not, you will use it to say that you saw someone or another person saw someone doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing (like watching movies when you should be studying for the exam).
Final Thoughts on Russian Slang
All in all, using Russian slang words will not only allow you to sound more natural but will also help you understand songs, movies, and other types of entertainment. This is definitely not a complete list of all the Russian slang words you may encounter while having conversations with Russians, but these twenty are the most commonly used ones and you can start learning them first.
Original article by Kristin Savage, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.
If you need additional motivation, check out this Language Hacking podcast episode:
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