Bolshevik

See also: bolshevik

English

Alternative forms

bolshevik

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), from большинство́ (bolʹšinstvó, “majority”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒlʃəvɪk/
Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊ̯lʃəvɪk/, /ˈbɑlʃəvɪk/, /ˈbɔlʃəvɪk/

Noun

Bolshevik (plural Bolsheviks or Bolsheviki)

(historical) A Russian communist revolutionary, member of the Bolshevik Party in the 1917 Communist Revolution of Russia.
- 1968, Conquest, Robert, “The Problem of Confession”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties‎, Macmillan Company, LCCN 68-17513, OCLC 1169910711, OL 21272570M, page 124:
  But such points were on the whole lost in the picture as it appeared in gross: everyone had confessed, the Old Bolsheviks had publicly avowed disgraceful plans and actions. The whole business almost passed belief. Were the confessions true? How had they been obtained? What did it all signify? We are told that the confessions were as little believed in Russia as abroad, ‘or even less’, but that the average Soviet citizen who had not been in jail found them as puzzling as foreigners did.
(historical) A member of the Communist Party that ruled the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Related terms

Bolshevism

Translations

a member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which seized power in the October Revolution of 1917

Albanian: bolshevik (sq) m
Arabic: بُلْشِفِيك‎ m (bulšifīk), بُلْشِفِيّ‎ m (bulšifiyy)
Armenian: բոլշևիկ (bolšewik)
Azerbaijani: bolşevik
Belarusian: бальшаві́к m (balʹšavík), бальшаві́чка f (balʹšavíčka)
Bulgarian: болшеви́к (bg) m (bolševík)
Catalan: bolxevic m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 布爾什維克／布尔什维克 (zh) (bù'ěrshíwéikè)
Czech: bolševik (cs) m
Danish: bolsjevik c
Dutch: bolsjewiek (nl) m
Esperanto: bolŝeviko
Estonian: enamlane, bolševik
Finnish: bolševikki (fi)
French: bolchevik (fr) m, bolchévique (fr) m, bolchevique (fr) m
Galician: bolxevique m
Georgian: ბოლშევიკი (bolševiḳi)
German: Bolschewik (de) m, Bolschewikin (de) f, Bolschewist (de) m, Bolschewistin (de) f
Greek: μπολσεβίκος (el) m (bolsevíkos)
Greenlandic: bolschevikki
Hindi: बोलशेविक m (bolśevik)
Hungarian: bolsevik (hu)
Icelandic: bolsévik m
Irish: Boilséiveach m
Italian: bolscevico (it) m
Japanese: ボリシェヴィキ (borisheviki)
Kazakh: большевик (bolşevik)
Korean: 볼셰비키 (bolsyebiki)
Kyrgyz: большевик (ky) (bolʹşevik)
Latvian: boļševiks m
Lithuanian: bolševikas m
Macedonian: болшевик m (bolševik)
Mongolian: большевик (mn) (bolʹševik)
Norwegian: bolsjevik m
Ottoman Turkish: بولشه‌ویك‎ (Bolşevik)
Persian: بلشویک‎ (fa) (bolševik)
Polish: bolszewik (pl) m, bolszewiczka f
Portuguese: bolchevique (pt) m
Romanian: bolșevic (ro) m
Russian: большеви́к (ru) m (bolʹševík), большеви́чка (ru) f (bolʹševíčka)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бољшѐвӣк m
Roman: boljšèvīk (sh) m
Slovak: boľševik m
Slovene: boljševik (sl) m
Spanish: bolchevique (es) m
Swedish: bolsjevik (sv) c
Tajik: болшевик (bolševik)
Thai: บอลเชวิค (bɔɔn-chee-wík)
Turkish: Bolşevik (tr)
Turkmen: bolşewik (tk)
Ukrainian: більшови́к m (bilʹšovýk), більшови́чка f (bilʹšovýčka)
Urdu: بالشویک‎ m (bālśevik)
Uzbek: bolshevik (uz)
Vietnamese: người Bôn sê vích, bôn (vi)
Yakut: бассабыык (bassabıık)
Yiddish: באָלשעוויק‎ m (bolshevik), באָלשעוויסט‎ m (bolshevist)