vodka

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvɒdkə/; /ˈvɑdkə/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Russian водка (vódka),^[2][3][4] a diminutive of вода (vodá, “water”) with the suffix -ка (-ka),^[2][5][6] so literally "little water".^[5][6] вода (vodá) comes from the same Indo-European source as water,^[6][7] Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water, wet”).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

1800 in Etymonline, in a description of 18th-century Russian life that calls it "rectified corn-spirits";^[5] 1802 in Barnhart;^[2] the OED's first example is from 1803, in F. W. Blagdon's translation of Pallas's travels.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that calling distilled spirits "water" is the same euphemism seen in eau de vie and whisky.^[6][8] At first it was described as a Russian spirit distilled mainly from rye, but also from barley or potatoes,^[3] and SOED notes it as made especially in Russia and Poland.^[9]

Timeline

• 1800 – as a Russian word in English.^[5]
• 1803 – the spirit, in Blagdon's Pallas.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A clear spirit, originally from Russia, distilled from grain such as rye or wheat, or from potatoes.
2. A glass or drink of this.

Related words

• water
• whisky

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press