Russian word meanings.
Heard a Russian word and need to know what it means? You'll find the Cyrillic, transliteration, English meaning, gender form, and cultural context for the words people most often search for.
If you've landed here, someone probably said a Russian word to you and you're trying to figure out what it means. Maybe a partner called you любовь моя. A grandmother greeted you with здравствуйте. A friend signed off with пока. You heard the sound, not the spelling - and Cyrillic isn't on your keyboard.
Each entry here gives you three things at once: the Cyrillic spelling (the real thing), the transliteration (what you typed into Google), and the English meaning (what you came for). Plus the gender form, where it matters, and the cultural register - because дорогой and дорогуша both mean "darling" but land very differently.
The words that show up in voicemails, texts, and the back of birthday cards. Russian terms of endearment have layers: gender, formality, diminutive degree. Same root word can sound tender, ironic, or sappy depending on how it's modified.
Russian builds affection into family words by suffix. Mama becomes mamochka. Papa becomes papochka. Sister becomes sestrenka. The diminutive layer is one of the warmest things about the language - and one of the hardest for English speakers to feel naturally.
The phrases people hear most: greetings at the door, toasts at the table, what to say when someone sneezes. The literal translation often differs from the meaning - здравствуйте isn't "hello," it's "be healthy."
Russian word meaning FAQ
What does lyubov moya mean?
Любовь моя (lyubov moya) literally translates to "love mine" but reads as "my love" in English. It's a tender term of affection used between romantic partners. Both word orders work in Russian (lyubov moya and moya lyubov mean the same thing); the post-positional form любовь моя carries slightly more poetic weight, the kind you'd write on a note rather than say in passing.
What does dorogoy mean in Russian?
Дорогой (dorogoy) means "dear" or "darling" addressed to a man. The feminine form is дорогая (dorogaya), used for a woman. It also literally means "expensive" - same word, two meanings. Context decides: дорогая машина is an expensive car; дорогая Маша is dear Masha. The diminutive дорогуша (dorogusha) softens it further into "sweetie."
What does mamochka mean?
Мамочка (mamochka) is the affectionate diminutive of мама, like "mommy" or "mama dear" in English. Russian builds dozens of these forms: папочка (daddy), дочка (little daughter), сынок (little son), братик (little brother). The diminutive carries warmth, not childishness - adult Russians call their parents мамочка and папочка regularly.
Why are so many Russian words searched in transliteration?
Most non-Russian-speaking partners and family of Russian speakers don't read Cyrillic. They hear a word, type what they heard into Google, and want the meaning. That's why "lyubov moya meaning" and "dorogoy meaning" are common searches - the searcher knows the sound, not the spelling. We give both: Cyrillic for accuracy, transliteration for searchability, English for understanding.
Is dorogoy or dorogaya correct?
Both are correct - they just match different genders. Russian adjectives change ending based on whether they describe something masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural. Дорогой (dorogoy) for a man, дорогая (dorogaya) for a woman, дорогое (dorogoye) for a neuter noun, дорогие (dorogiye) for plural. Get the gender right and the rest is just listening.
Beyond decoding single words.
If a Russian person is in your life, you'll keep hearing words you don't know. Slova teaches the system - cases, gender, conjugation - so you can build the meaning yourself, not just look up one word at a time.
Train Russian vocabulary in SlovaOr browse vocabulary by topic →