Skip to main content
Making sense of old handwriting

Russian Vocabulary: Time


Below is an alphabetical list of time-related terms found in Russian records. Each word is generally listed first in its modern form, followed by relevant variants, including some with archaic spelling. If the word you are looking for is not found here, consider looking at our other word lists or the FamilySearch Wiki Russian Genealogical Word List. If you're still struggling to find the right word, it may be a person's or place name. Follow the guidelines listed under Practical Suggestions and use other resources on our site such as those found on the Names page.

Using the keyboard commands Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) can be helpful when searching through word lists. Simply type the first few letters or a part of the word you know, and the search function will highlight any words in the list that contain that sequence of letters.

Abbreviation

Meaning

Abbreviation

Meaning

nom.nominative casemasc.masculine
acc.accusative casefem.feminine
gen.genitive caseneut.neuter
prep.prepositional caseplu.plural
dat.dative casepastpast
instr.instrumental casepres.present
arch.archaics.f.short form (for adjectives)

Russian

English

Examples

вечер
(gen. вечера,
instr. вечеромъ)
evening

(instr. вечеромъ)

возрастage

(gen. возраста)

временныйtemporary

(fem. prep. временной)

времяtime
вчераyesterday
вчерашнийyesterday (adj.)
год
(arch. годъ,
gen. года,
gen. plu. лет,
лѣтъ)
year

(gen. года)

(gen. plu. лѣтъ)

деньday

(gen. дня)

месяцmonth

(arch. gen. мѣсяца)

нынеnow

(arch. нынѣ)

ночь
(gen. ночи instr. ночью)
night (at night)
от родуfrom birth

(arch. отъ роду)

arch. пополудниafternoon
arch. пополуночиafter midnight
сегодняtoday
сегодняшнийtoday (adj.)
утро
(gen. утра
instr. утром)
morning

(gen. утра)

час
(gen. часа
gen. plu. часов)
hour
(can mean "o'clock"
when in the genitive
case)

(gen. часа)

одинадцать часовъ - 11 o'clock

числоdate, number

(gen. числа)

To view translations of specific words and phrases you may encounter in a certain document type, visit the corresponding Document Types page of this tutorial.


  1. Ivan Shishkin, Morning in a Pine Forest, 1886, Oil on canvas. Wikimedia Commons.(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utro_v_sosnovom_lesu.jpg : accessed 27 August 2024). This image is in the public domain.
data-content-type=""


Introduction
Paleography Introduction