Advanced Russian: How to talk about frost?
Winter in Russia lasts a long time, so we have a lot of words to express all of our feelings about the cold.
Hello, my dear Russian learner!
It’s winter in Russia, which is both hated, because of the extreme cold, and inspiring, because of its sparkling beauty.
Let’s learn some words and expressions that will help you better speak about winter, frost and cold and sound more natural, almost like a native speaker!
Shall we start from the basics?
- ‘Холод’ (‘kholod’) is the literal translation for the word ‘cold’. It’s the most easy and widespread thing you can say about the winter weather.
- ‘Холодрыга’ (‘kholodryga’) is a derivative from the word ‘холод’; it means ‘very strong cold’ and it’s a colloquial word. You could hear a Russian say: “Какая там [outside] холодрыга!”
- ‘Хлад’ (‘khlad’) an outdated form of ‘холод’, which you may come across in Russian literature.
- ‘Прохлада’ (‘prokhlada’) is a chill, light coldness and can actually also be used when describing a cool summer evening.
- ‘Холод собачий’ (‘kholod sobachy’) literally translates as ‘a dog’s cold’ and means very strong cold. This is a colloquial and a bit rude expression. Why a dog’s one? Because it’s so cold that even dogs get frozen!
Now, let’s turn to another root word.
- ‘Мороз’ (‘moroz’) is ‘frost’ in Russian. It should only really be used when it’s minus temperature outside. Remember that the Russian Santa Claus is called ‘Дед Мороз’ (‘Ded Moroz’, which is literally ‘Grandfather Frost’).
- ‘Морозец’ (‘morosets’) is a lighter version of ‘frost’, a word you most likely will encounter in oral speech and usually in a positive way.
- ‘Заморозки’ (‘zamorozki’) is actually the very first frost, which usually happens during the night, covering the ground with hoarfrost.
- ‘Я замёрз’ (‘Ya zamyorz’) means ‘I got cold’, ‘I am frozen’. There is also a stronger expression which Russians say when they got extremely frozen: ‘Промёрзнуть до костей’ (‘promyorznut do kostei’), literally this mean ‘get frozen to the bones’.
Do you think that’s it? Not at all!
- ‘Зябко’ (‘zyabko’), ‘мне зябко’ (‘mne zyabko’) or ‘я озяб’ (‘ya ozyab’). All these expressions also imply ‘I am cold’. They’re a bit outdated, but you still can hear Russians say them and you can read them a lot in literature.
- ‘Свежо!’ (‘Svezho!’) is ‘fresh’ and usually is used in an ironic way, when it’s really cold. Fresh, meaning not hot at all!
- ‘Стужа’ (‘stuzha’) is an icy cold. It’s also a little outdated word from literature and a close synonym of strong frost.
- ‘Дубак’ (‘dubak’) is a colloquial word also meaning strong frost and a synonym of ‘холодрыга’.
