дрянь

дрянь

Russian

Etymology

First attested in 1731. From дрань (dranʹ), from Proto-Slavic *dьranь, from *dьranъ, past passive participle of *dьrati (“to tear, flay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [drʲænʲ]

• Audio

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Noun

дрянь • (drjanʹ) f inan or f anim (genitive дря́ни, nominative plural дря́ни, genitive plural дря́ней)

1. (colloquial) rubbish, trash
   • 1929 – 1940, М. А. Булгаков, Мастер и Маргарита :

     Пошёл я купа́ться на Москва́-ре́ку, ну и попя́тили мо́ю одёжу, а э́тудрянь оста́вили!

     Pošól ja kupátʹsja na Moskvá-réku, nu i popjátili móju odjóžu, a étu drjanʹ ostávili!

     • 1979 translation by Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky

       I went for a swim in the Moscow River, so they filched my clothes and left me this trash!

2. (figuratively, colloquial, animate) rotter, skunk, dirty dog

Declension

Declension of дрянь (bian fem-form 3rd-decl accent-a) 

	singular	plural
nominative	дря́нь drjánʹ	дря́ни drjáni
genitive	дря́ни drjáni	дря́ней drjánej
dative	дря́ни drjáni	дря́ням drjánjam
accusative animate inanimate	дря́нь drjánʹ	дря́ней drjánej
		дря́ни drjáni
instrumental	дря́нью drjánʹju	дря́нями drjánjami
prepositional	дря́ни drjáni	дря́нях drjánjax

Derived terms

• дрянно́й (drjannój)
• дря́нский (drjánskij)
• дрянцо́ (drjancó)

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “дрянь”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. (1993), “дрянь”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), volume 1 (а – пантомима), 3rd edition, Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 271
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьranь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 217