Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "woman" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

женщина

Meaning: woman, female life partner

Pronunciation: [ZHEHN-schee-nah]

Part of speech: noun (feminine noun)

Rank: #166 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Женщина смотрит в зеркало.
A woman is looking in the mirror.
На скамейке сидели мужчина и женщина.
There were a man and a woman sitting on the bench.
В его жизни было две женщины.
There were two women in his life. (meaning "significant other")
В своем романе Лев Толстой описывает, как маленькая шаловливая девочка становится настоящей женщиной, матерью и любящей женой.
In his novel, Leo Tolstoy describes how a playful little girl becomes a real woman, a mother and a loving wife.
В кресле сиде́ла молода́я и о́чень привлека́тельная же́нщина.
There was a young and very attractive woman sitting in the chair.
Сколько в вашей жизни было женщин или мужчин?
How many women or men have you had in your life? (referring to intimacy)

Idioms and set expressions:

замужняя женщина = married woman
сварливая женщина = shrew
женщина-врач = lady-doctor
любимая женщина = fair one, beloved
женщина-космонавт = spacewoman
роковая женщина = la femme fatale
женщина лёгкого поведения = prostitute
стать женщиной = to lose virginity; to grow from a girl into a woman

Proverbs and sayings:

Ищите женщину.
There is a woman in it. (from French: Cherchez la femme.)
Не бывает некрасивых женщин.
Nobody's ugly after 2 a.m.! (literally: There are no unattractive women.)
Одна женщина -- баба, две бабы -- базар, а три -- ярмарка.
Three women and a goose make a marketplace.

Other forms of the word (declensions):

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	же́нщинa	же́нщины
Genitive	же́нщины	же́нщин
Dative	же́нщине	же́нщинам
Accusative	же́нщину	же́нщин
Instrumental	же́нщиной	же́нщинами
Prepositional	же́нщине	же́нщинах

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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