Russian Classes: Russians actually use 5 different words for "bear"

Legion Media

Привет! Today let’s talk about the bear, one of the unofficial symbols of Russia.

Bear is “медведь” in Russian, but we often amicably refer to it as “мишка”.
“Мишка” comes from the male name "Миша" - the diminutive of "Михаил".

By the way, the Moscow 1980 Olympic mascot is called “олимпийский мишка”, and his official name is also Миша.

We might also fondly call a bear “косолапый” (clubfooted).

The two nicknames combined then sound like “Мишка Kосолапый”, which is also a popular name for the character of the Bear in fairy tales or children's songs.

In folklore, a bear can also be called by other diminutives of the name "Михаил", like “Мишутка” and, formally, using the 'first name' and patronymic e.g. “Михайло Потапыч”.

Check out more lessons in our Telegram channel, using the tag #russianclasses!

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