vodka
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka), from вода́ (vodá, “water”) + -ка (-ka, “-let: forming diminutives”). The archaic Russian name for vodka was хле́бное вино́ (xlébnoje vinó, “grain wine”); V. Pokhlyobkin's research suggests the present name derived from expressions concerning the dilution of the initial pure distilled spirit such as "vodka of grain wine".
Cognates include Sanskrit उदक (udaka), Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) → English hydro-, English whisky and English water.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvɒdkə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈvɑdkə/
Audio (US): (file)
- (Indic) IPA(key): /vɔ~o.kɑ/
- Rhymes: -ɒdkə, (Indic, also) -əʊdkə
Noun
vodka (countable and uncountable, plural vodkas)
- A clear distilled alcoholic liquor made from grain mash.
- 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 20, in Friday's Business[2]:
- Eurydice pointed to the cupboard, and sat down on the low divan with folded hands, and looked at the floor. She was quite white. Elsa made her drink a glass of vodka.
- 2007 June 27, Rob Willey, “A Bit of History, Reborn in a Glass”, in The New York Times[3], archived from the original on 10 June 2021:
- At Vessel, in Seattle, the bar manager, Jamie Boudreau, starts his cherry bitters by combining separate bourbon- and rye-based infusions with a touch of honey-flavored vodka and the Italian digestif amaro.
- A serving of the above beverage.
- 1986, Marc Polonsky, Russell Taylor, USSR, From an Original Idea by Karl Marx, Faber and Faber, →ISBN:
- You should mutter sullenly into your glass, cursing the serving woman (Witch! Hag! Poison!) or the vodka (Poison! Bitch!), as the one pours you another glass of the other.
- (US standards of identity) Neutral spirits distilled (or treated after distillation) so as to have no distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.
- (countable, military slang, ethnic slur) A Russian.[1]
- (uncountable, military slang) Russian language.[1]
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lighter, Jonathan (1972), “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech[1], volume 47, number 1/2, page 114
Further reading
Cornish
Etymology
Borrowed from English vodka, from Russian водка (vodka).
Pronunciation
- (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA(key): [ˈvɔdka]
- (Revived Late Cornish) IPA(key): [ˈvɔdkɐ]
Noun
vodka f (plural vodkas)
References
- “vodka” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.
- Akademi Kernewek Gerlyver Kernewek (FSS) Cornish Dictionary (SWF) (in Cornish), 2018, published 2018, page 190
Czech
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka). By surface analysis, voda + -ka.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈvotka]
- Rhymes: -otka
- Hyphenation: vod‧ka
Noun
vodka f (relational adjective vodkový)
Declension
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
- “vodka”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
- “vodka”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026
Danish
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Noun
vodka
Declension
| common gender |
singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | vodka | vodkaen | vodkaer | vodkaerne |
| genitive | vodkas | vodkaens | vodkaers | vodkaernes |
Finnish
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʋodkɑ/, [ˈʋo̞dkɑ̝]
- Rhymes: -odkɑ
- Syllabification(key): vod‧ka
- Hyphenation(key): vod‧ka
Noun
vodka
Declension
| Inflection of vodka (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | vodka | vodkat | |
| genitive | vodkan | vodkien | |
| partitive | vodkaa | vodkia | |
| illative | vodkaan | vodkiin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | vodka | vodkat | |
| accusative | nom. | vodka | vodkat |
| gen. | vodkan | ||
| genitive | vodkan | vodkien vodkain rare | |
| partitive | vodkaa | vodkia | |
| inessive | vodkassa | vodkissa | |
| elative | vodkasta | vodkista | |
| illative | vodkaan | vodkiin | |
| adessive | vodkalla | vodkilla | |
| ablative | vodkalta | vodkilta | |
| allative | vodkalle | vodkille | |
| essive | vodkana | vodkina | |
| translative | vodkaksi | vodkiksi | |
| abessive | vodkatta | vodkitta | |
| instructive | — | vodkin | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||
| Possessive forms of vodka (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms
Derived terms
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 4 July 2023
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
Noun
vodka f (plural vodkas)
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
Hungarian
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈvotkɒ]
- Hyphenation: vod‧ka
- Rhymes: -kɒ
Noun
vodka (plural vodkák)
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | vodka | vodkák |
| accusative | vodkát | vodkákat |
| dative | vodkának | vodkáknak |
| instrumental | vodkával | vodkákkal |
| causal-final | vodkáért | vodkákért |
| translative | vodkává | vodkákká |
| terminative | vodkáig | vodkákig |
| essive-formal | vodkaként | vodkákként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | vodkában | vodkákban |
| superessive | vodkán | vodkákon |
| adessive | vodkánál | vodkáknál |
| illative | vodkába | vodkákba |
| sublative | vodkára | vodkákra |
| allative | vodkához | vodkákhoz |
| elative | vodkából | vodkákból |
| delative | vodkáról | vodkákról |
| ablative | vodkától | vodkáktól |
| non-attributive possessive – singular |
vodkáé | vodkáké |
| non-attributive possessive – plural |
vodkáéi | vodkákéi |
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person sing. | vodkám | vodkáim |
| 2nd person sing. | vodkád | vodkáid |
| 3rd person sing. | vodkája | vodkái |
| 1st person plural | vodkánk | vodkáink |
| 2nd person plural | vodkátok | vodkáitok |
| 3rd person plural | vodkájuk | vodkáik |
Derived terms
- vodkás
Further reading
- vodka in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
Icelandic
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvɔt.kʰa/
Noun
vodka n (genitive singular vodka, no plural)
Declension
| singular | ||
|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | vodka | vodkað |
| accusative | vodka | vodkað |
| dative | vodka | vodkanu |
| genitive | vodka | vodkans |
Indonesian
Alternative forms
- wodka (nonstandard)
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), from вода́ (vodá, “water”) + -ка (-ka, “-let: forming diminutives”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɔt.ka/
- Rhymes: -ka
- Hyphenation: vod‧ka
Noun
vodka
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvɔd.ka/
- Rhymes: -ɔdka
- Hyphenation: vòd‧ka
Noun
vodka f (invariable)
Norman
Etymology
From English vodka, from Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Noun
vodka m (plural vodkas)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʋɔdkɑ/
- Rhymes: -ɑ
Noun
vodka m (definite singular vodkaen)
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Noun
vodka m (definite singular vodkaen)
Portuguese
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka), diminutive of вода́ (vodá).
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈvɔd͡ʒ.kɐ/, /ˈvɔ.d͡ʒi.kɐ/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈvɔd͡ʒ.ka/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈvɔ.dkɐ/ [ˈvɔ.ðkɐ]
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbɔ.dkɐ/ [ˈbɔ.ðkɐ]
- Rhymes: -ɔd͡ʒkɐ, -ɔd͡ʒikɐ, -ɔdkɐ
- Hyphenation: vod‧ka
Noun
vodka f (plural vodkas)
- vodka (alcoholic drink, colorless and almost tasteless, obtained from cereals, originating in Eastern Europe)
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
- “vodka”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Slovak
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vodъka, equivalent to voda (“water”) + -ka (diminutive suffix).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɔtka/, [ˈʋɔtka]
- Rhymes: -ɔtka
- Hyphenation: vod‧ka
Noun
vodka f (genitive singular vodky, nominative plural vodky, genitive plural vodiek, declension pattern of žena)
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | vodka | vodky |
| genitive | vodky | vodiek |
| dative | vodke | vodkám |
| accusative | vodku | vodky |
| locative | vodke | vodkách |
| instrumental | vodkou | vodkami |
Derived terms
- vodkový
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026
Spanish
Alternative forms
- vodca (rare)
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian во́дка (vódka, literally “little water”), a diminutive of вода́ (vodá, “water”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbodka/ [ˈboð̞.ka]
- Rhymes: -odka
- Syllabification: vod‧ka
Noun
vodka m or f (plural vodkas)
Usage notes
Vodka is usually treated as a masculine noun, but feminine noun usage is permitted per its etymology.
Further reading
- “vodka”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
- “vodka”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
Swedish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɔdka/
Noun
vodka c
Declension
| nominative | genitive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | indefinite | vodka | vodkas |
| definite | vodkan | vodkans | |
| plural | indefinite | vodkor | vodkors |
| definite | vodkorna | vodkornas |