Dictionary

vatnik en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈvætnɪk/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈvɑtnɪk/

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ва́тник (vátnik, literally “quilted jacket”). The sense of "unintelligent Russian patriot" was derived from the jackets worn by Soviet citizens and an online cartoon about a sentient jacket known by the same name. The term was popularized in Russia in 2011 and re-popularized at large in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine to refer to supporters of the invasion, especially online users, even if they are not from Russia. Reflecting usage in Ukrainian and Russian, the term was later extended to refer to Russian soldiers who were involved in war against Ukraine.

Meanings

1. A Russian style of quilted jacket.
   • Two models each for men and women are featured at prices ranging from 100 to 140 rubles, more than the cost of a 'vatnik.' (The ruble is nominally valued at four to $1.) 1959, Men's Wear:
2. (derogatory) An unintelligent Russian patriot.
   • Vatnik, originally a name of a warm cotton-padded Russian jacket that is still used sometimes in rural areas, has a broad meaning of all people with imperial Russian ideology. 2015 January 5, Oksana Grytsenko, “Ukrainian wartime glossary: Ukrop, Vatnik and more”, in Kyiv Post (news), →ISBN:
   • A vatnik basically refers to a Russian who is not too bright and who loves him some Putin. 2017, Erin Coyne, Igor Fisun, What They Didn't Teach You in Russian Class: Slang Phrases for the Cafe, Club, Bar, Bedroom, Ball Game and More, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
   • To mock the audience and depict the Russian man as a vatnik [uneducated hurray patriot] or a gopnik [in English: chav] seems totally inappropriate to me. 2017, Lena Jonson, Andrei Erofeev, Russia - Art Resistance and the Conservative-Authoritarian Zeitgeist, Routledge, →ISBN:
   • […] many pro-Maidan FB-users whose posts I analysed saw themselves as nothing less than the standard-bearers of civilization: 'The work on vatniks requires huge efforts, but this is what distinguishes civilization from barbarism' (FB-user 15, Kyiv). 2020, Natalia Knoblock, Language of Conflict: Discourses of the Ukrainian Crisis, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 109:
   • At first, vatniks were pro-Russian citizens, in the view of some, Sovietized lumpenproletariat, who supported the separation of Crimea and close ties with [Russia]. 2017, Anna Matveeva, Through Times of Trouble: Conflict in Southeastern Ukraine Explained from Within, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 198:
3. (Internet, broadly, derogatory, neologism) A supporter of Vladimir Putin, Russian nationalism, or the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022; a Putinist.
4. (Internet, broadly, derogatory, neologism) A soldier in the Russian armed forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

Forms

Relateds

zigger · orc · mobik

Synonyms

portyanka · orc · Putinist · zigger · sovok · Ivan

Translations (35)

pl watnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · et vatnik (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · uk ва́тник (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · lv vatnieks (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · lv vatenis (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · ru ва́та (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · hu pufajka (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · lt vatnikas (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · fr vatnik (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · uk ва́тниця (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · zh 棉襖 /棉袄 (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · et vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · zh 棉襖 /棉袄 (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · ka ვატნიკი (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · de Watnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · crh vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · cv ватник (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · hu vattakabát (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · pl watnik (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · lv vatņiks (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · ru ва́тница (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · ru ва́тник (a Russian style of quilted jacket) · uk ва́та (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · zh 黃俄 /黄俄 (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · fr vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · uz vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · be ва́тніца (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · kk мақтабас (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · fi vatnikki (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · ru ва́тник (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · hy վատնիկ (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · sv vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · be ва́тнік (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · hu vatnyik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory)) · hu vatnik (unintelligent Russian patriot, supporter of Russian aggressive policies (derogatory))

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