35 Beautiful Russian Words to Find Beauty in the Mundane
The Russian language is known for its expressive, poetic vocabulary.
Discover some beautiful Russian words to add to your own conversations, from the many ways to say something is beautiful, to the gentle cadence of words like Вдохновение (inspiration).
And you don’t even have to be a poet to use these vocabulary words!
Contents
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Russian Words for “Beautiful”
How do you say that something is beautiful in Russian? There are at least 18 different words you can use, depending on what aspect of beauty you want to highlight:
| Russian | Reading | English | How Its Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Красивый | Krasivyy | Beautiful | Used to describe physical beauty or something aesthetically pleasing. |
| Прекрасный | Prekrasnyy | Splendid | Implies excellence or outstanding beauty. |
| Красота | Krasota | Beauty | Used to express admiration for something beautiful. |
| Привлекательный | Privlekatel'nyy | Attractive | Often used to describe someone's physical appearance. |
| Обаятельный | Obayatel'nyy | Charming | Conveys charm and attractiveness, often used for a person's personality. |
| Шикарный | Shikarnyy | Luxurious | Suggests grandeur or magnificence, often used to describe something luxurious and beautiful. |
| Прелестный | Prelestnyy | Delightful | Implies delightful or charming beauty. |
| Очаровательный | Ocharovatel'nyy | Enchanting | Conveys enchanting beauty, often used for someone who captivates others. |
| Изысканный | Izyskannyy | Exquisite | Describes refined or elegant beauty, often associated with high taste. |
| Прелесть | Prelest' | Delight | Used to describe something that is delightful or charming. |
| Красавица | Krasavitsa | Beauty | Specifically used to describe a beautiful woman. |
| Благоуханный | Blagoukhannyy | Fragrant | Conveys a sense of fragrant or sweet beauty, only used to describe smells. |
| Восхитительный | Voskhititel'nyy | Admirable | Extremely pleasing, expressing a strong positive reaction to beauty. |
| Миловидный | Milovidnyy | Handsome | Describes someone or something with a lovely or charming appearance. |
| Яркий | Yarkiy | Vivid | While it primarily refers to something colorful, it can also be used to describe something strikingly beautiful. |
| Великолепный | Velikolepnyy | Magnificent | Conveys magnificence and grandeur, often used for something exceptionally beautiful. |
| Неповторимый | Nepovtorimyy | Unrepeatable | Means "unique" or "incomparable," suggesting a one-of-a-kind beauty. |
You might find even more ways to say “beautiful”—and you’ll certainly find more beautiful words in general—when you use a program like FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
Beautiful Russian Words
The Russian language is full of beautiful words. Here are some of my favorite lyrical words in Russian, many of which also have beautiful meanings:
| Russian | Reading | English | Usage Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Тоска | Toska | Longing | A complex emotional state often described as a deep spiritual anguish or yearning with no specific cause. |
| Совершенство | Sovershenstvo | Perfection | |
| Ласка | Laska | Affection | |
| Душевность | Dushevnost' | Soulfulness | Implies a deep, soulful connection or warmth in relationships, often associated with a genuine and open-hearted attitude. |
| Трепетный | Trepetnoi | Tremulous | Conveys a sense of trembling excitement or anticipation, often associated with something beautiful or awe-inspiring. |
| Туманность | Tumannost' | Haziness | Carries a poetic sense of mistiness or haziness, often used to describe something elusive and dreamlike. |
| Манящий | Manyashchiy | Alluring | |
| Мир | Mir | Peace, world | |
| Уединение | Uyedineniye | Solitude | Often has a positive connotation of finding inner peace or tranquility in solitude. |
| Неземной | Nyezemnoy | Otherworldly | |
| Блаженство | Blazhenstvo | Ecstasy | |
| Закат | Zakat | Sunset | |
| Надежда | Nadezhda | Hope | |
| Любовь | Lyubov' | Love | |
| Мечта | Mechta | Dream | Represents the aspirations or desires one holds for the future, of varied levels of realism. |
| Вдохновение | Vdokhnoveniye | Inspiration | This word literally comes from the word вдох, meaning "inhalation." |
You’re all set to add these beautiful Russian words to your vocabulary toolbelt. Pull them out during conversations to impress native Russian speakers or just enjoy the way the words feel rolling off your tongue. Have fun!
And One More Thing...
If you love learning Russian and want to immerse yourself with authentic materials from Russia, then I should also tell you more about FluentU.
FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning the Russian language and culture. You'll learn real Russian as it's spoken by real Russian people!
FluentU has a very broad range of contemporary videos. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of Russian-language content available on FluentU:
FluentU makes these native Russian videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab. Easily review words and phrases with audio under Vocab.
All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Russian learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
And FluentU has a learn mode which turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples.
The best part? FluentU keeps track of your vocabulary, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You'll have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
