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Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online
For the online entry, see:
https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-slavic-languages-and-
linguistics-online/*-COM_036254
COVID-19 Vocabulary in Slavic
(4,553 words)
COVID-19 pandemic re ected in Slavic
languages Article Table of Contents
COVID-19 pandemic
Language not only denotes things but also expresses the
re ected in Slavic languages
human experience. The experience of the COVID-19
Coronavirus
pandemic outbreak, separation from one’s family and
friends during the lockdown, uncertainty about economic Compounds containing
consequences, and the further development of the korona or covid/kovid in
Slavic languages
pandemic are re ected in the growing body of new
vocabulary in many languages. This article tackles lexical Theme elds of pandemic
units that refer to the COVID-19 pandemic in Slavic vocabulary
languages: Russian and Ukrainian (East Slavic); Polish, Virus, disease, health service,
Czech, and Slovak (West Slavic); and Croatian, Slovene, and coronavirus policy
Macedonian, and Bulgarian (South Slavic). Most of the Social distancing, everyday
Croatian lexical items function also in Bosnian, life under lockdown
Montenegrin, and Serbian public discourse; therefore, Economic losses and anti-
BCMS is used henceforth. The di ferences are marked in crisis measures
the text whenever relevant. Other inconveniences and
risks caused by the
The course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slavic countries pandemic
was not very di ferent from that of the rest of the world. Pandemic denial, allegations
Like in other languages, specialized terminology about against personal or group
the coronavirus pandemic used in medicine, in particular advantage in politics or
by epidemiologists, moved to public discourse: e.g., Ru economy, and alternative
nulevoj pacient, Po pacjent zero, Cr nulti pacijent, Sn ničti (nonmedical) methods of
pacient ‘patient zero’; Ru immunitet tolpy, Po odporność ghting the pandemic
stada, Cr imunitet krda, Sn čredna imunost ‘herd Other vocabulary related to
immunity’; Ru komorbidnostʹ, Cr komorbidet, Po COVID-19
współwystępowanie ‘comorbidity’; see also Ru The new normal, the new
komorbidnye zabolevanija, Po choroby współistniejące, Sn reality
pridružene bolezni ‘comorbid conditions’ (see Blagus Bibliography
/Bartolec 2020: 30). At the same time, new terms were
coined to refer to novel elements of life that emerged
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This article focuses on the second type of vocabulary in Slavic languages, that is, on new words
and expressions that have already been included in dictionaries and lexicons (such as Sn Fran,
različica covid-19 ‘Fran, COVID-19 version’ and Cr Pojmovnik koronavirusa ‘Coronavirus lexicon’)
or are likely to be included because of the high frequency of their use. Some of these are
attested in mainstream newspapers; others occur in occasional memes in social media (see
Cierpich-Kozieł 2020; Štrkalj Despot 2020; Zamalʹdinov 2020). The frequency of quoted words
was partially checked in the internet corpus WebCorp.
Coronavirus
The central character of this story is SARS-CoV-2, which is colloquially known in English (and,
mutatis mutandis, in other languages) as “the coronavirus.” The respiratory illness caused by it
is called “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated as COVID-19). According to Merriam-Webster,
the term “COVID-19” also refers to the coronavirus that causes the disease in question.
The Latin word virus with the initial meaning ‘slim/poison’ was used by Louis Pasteur as a
name for invisible germs, and since the 19th century, it has spread to all modern languages.
Virus as a protein agent that replicates only inside cells of living organisms is classi ed on the
border between a living creature and an inanimate object. In most Slavic languages, the nouns
virus and koronavirus are inanimate with the case ending homonymy between the accusative
and nominative cases in singular. Only in Polish does wirus behave like an animate noun that
has the same ending in the accusative and genitive cases (e.g., mieć/odkryć wirusa ‘to
have/discover a virus’). In Ukrainian, virus is inanimate according to grammar books and
dictionaries, but it can be used with the animate ending as well. The unique treatment of wirus
in Polish does not indicate that people conceive of a virus as a living creature; rather it is a
re ection of the tendency of the Polish language to use the same endings in the accusative and
genitive cases of substantives that belong to various lexical elds outside the animacy.
Nevertheless, it is easy to personify a virus as an enemy and use it in war rhetoric if it is
grammatically encoded as animate. Another example of personi cation of the virus in Polish is
the compound koronaświrus ‘coronavirus [with a tinge of irony]’, which makes use of the
phonetic resemblance between the lexemes wirus ‘virus’ and świrus ‘nut/freak’. According to
the online slang dictionary Miejski.pl, this compound also denotes a person who responds to
the coronavirus pandemic in an irrational way, that is, either with panic or with ignorance of
the warnings regarding public health or safety (see e.g., Sn koronabedak, Cr kovidiot, Uk
kovidiot).
The word “coronavirus” is often shortened to “corona” (korona in Slavic languages). The English
word “corona” comes from Latin and preserves the meaning of “stellar corona” (glowing outer
atmosphere), whereas the name for a king’s head adornment is di ferent: “crown.” The
di ference between the two meanings (i.e., ‘stellar corona’ and ‘crown’) has been preserved in
/some Slavic languages. The rst meaning is expressed by the word korona, the second by
di ferent phonetically related lexemes: Cz and Sk koruna, Sr and Cr kruna, Mk kruna, Sn krona.
Po korona as well as East Slavic languages and Bg korona mean ‘crown’ (Ru and Uk korona was
borrowed from Polish; Łaziński 2020). Korona is an ambiguous word in Slavic languages,
particularly in Polish. In Wielki słownik języka polskiego PWN, there are 14 meanings for this
lexeme, of which some do not have phonetic counterparts in every Slavic language. For
instance, the crown, or upper branches, of a tree is called korona in Polish and South Slavic
languages, but in Russian, the branches are called krona (from Ge Krone).
The homonymy between the words for “crown” and
“corona” in Polish makes it easier to build a metaphor of
the disease ruling our world. The crownlike image of the
coronavirus is common in Polish discourse. For instance,
it is used on the cover of the Polish weekly Polityka
together with the headline Koronacja – sposób na wybory
‘Coronation – a way to win an election’.
Compounds containing korona or covid/kovid in
Slavic languages
“Coronavirus” (also spelled koronawirus and koronavirus)
came into Slavic languages as an integral English
borrowing. A regular compound built in Slavic languages
according to the rules of synchronic word formation Fig. 1: Cover of polish weekly
would include an inter x -o- (e.g., *koronovirus). There Polityka 19, May 6–12, 2020
are many other compounds with korona that emerged (source:
without the inter x -o-. They can be classi ed according static.polityka.pl/_resource/res/path/4
to their topic (lexical eld), register, and stability (i.e., the 70f4-40de-ab2d-
likelihood of their being preserved in standard 9d5f6e4ef648_900x).
languages). Polish neologisms containing covid preserve
the English spelling whereas other Slavic languages use the version kovid.
Korona- and covid-/kovid- compounds di fer in their structure. In Polish, the entire word korona
is usually contained in a new word. In Czech, the stem is often truncated to koro- or creates a
morphologic node, as in koroizolace ‘isolation during the coronavirus pandemic’. In Russian,
the stem kovid seems to be a more popular base for neologisms than korona. In Czech, both
korona and covid/kovid are popular, whereas in Polish and South Slavic languages, korona
makes up the majority of neologisms. Some Slavic languages make use of the adjectives or
verbs derived from korona (e.g., Sn and Cr koronski ‘related to the coronavirus’) and kovid (e.g.,
Ru kovidnyj, Uk kovidskyj, kovidnyj, Cr kovidski ‘related to COVID-19’, Cz zakovidat se, Uk
zakoviduvaty ‘to get infected with COVID-19’, Cz odkoronavirovat se ‘recover from COVID-19’.
Theme elds of pandemic vocabulary
/It is not only compounds containing korona or covid/kovid that enrich the pandemic
vocabulary, but also other new words that emerged during the time of the coronavirus
pandemic. All neologisms can be classi ed according to a lexical eld that refers to one of the
di ferent aspects of life during the pandemic.
Virus, disease, health service, and coronavirus policy
Bulgarian: korona (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronavirus ‘coronavirus’, test za koronavirus
‘coronavirus test’, kovid pozitiven ‘COVID-19 positive’, kovid slučaj ‘COVID-19 case’, kovid otdelenie
‘a hospital ward for COVID-19 patients’.
Macedonian: korona (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, korona virus (or koronavirus) ‘coronavirus’,
korona slučaj ‘coronavirus case’, korona test ‘coronavirus test’, korona bilans ‘coronavirus rate of
infection’, kovid bolnica ‘a hospital for COVID-19 patients’, antikorona ‘anti-corona’ (e.g.,
antikorona paravani ‘anti-corona screen’, antikorona prostor ‘anti-corona space’, antikorona
merki ‘anti-corona measures’, antikorona preporaki ‘anti-corona recommendation’), ekonomski
“korona” paket ‘coronavirus economic package’.
BCMS: korona (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronski (adj.) ‘related to coronavirus’, kovidpozitivan
‘COVID-19 positive’, koronaš ‘a person infected with the coronavirus’, koronašica ‘feminine form
of koronaš’, koronizirati (se) ‘to infect/become infected with the coronavirus’, koronabolnica ‘a
hospital for COVID-19 patients’, korona free (or kovid fri) ‘a person free of COVID-19’, superširitelj
‘a super-spreader’, kovidambulanta ‘in rmary for COVID-19 treatment’, koronaožujak ‘March
2020, when cases of COVID-19 were con rmed in all European countries’, maškare (colloquial)
‘people who wear masks’, koronazakon ‘coronavirus policy’, koronapravila ‘coronavirus rules’,
koronamjere (in Serbian also koronamere, mere protiv korone, mere povodom korone, mere za
zaštitu od korone, mere za suzbijanje od korone) ‘measures against coronavirus’.
Slovene: korona (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronavirusni, koronski (adj.) ‘related to coronavirus’,
koronačas ‘the time of coronavirus, corona time’, koronazakon ‘coronavirus policy’, koronapaket
‘coronavirus package’, protikorona zakon ‘anti-coronavirus policy’, protikoronski paket ‘anti-
coronavirus package’, megapaket ‘coronavirus megapackage’.
Czech: koronáč, koronáček (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronosič, koronositel, koronaviník ‘a
carrier of coronavirus’ (the third derivative evokes the person’s responsibility by the morpheme
vin ‘guilt’), kovidoza, koronoviroza ‘COVID-19 disease’, kovídek, covídek (colloquial) ‘COVID-19’,
coviďák (koviďák) ‘a person infected with COVID-19’, zakovidat se ‘to get infected with COVID-
19’, odkoronavirovat, otcovidovat se ‘to carry out coronavirus decontamination, disinfect
something/oneself’, kovidovač ‘means against infection’, koronastan ‘the public stand for
COVID-19 testing’, korocentrum ‘COVID-19 hotbed’, covidárium ‘a separate part of a hospital for
COVID-19 patients’, virouška ‘an antivirus mask’ (from rouška ‘a mask/dressing’), rouškomat ‘a
machine dispensing face masks’.
/Slovak: koronaepidémia, koronapandémia ‘corona pandemic’, koronakríza ‘corona crisis’,
koronový, koronavírusový (adj.) ‘related to coronavirus’, e.g., koronová kríza, koronarozsievač ‘a
carrier of coronavirus’, rúškomat ‘a machine dispensing face masks’.
Polish: korona (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronaświrus (colloquial) ‘coronavirus’, koronatest ‘a
test for COVID-19’, koronabus ‘a bus for COVID-19 testing’, supernosiciel ‘a super-spreader’,
maskomat ‘a machine dispensing face masks’.
Ukrainian: kovidka (the diminutive of the COVID-19 disease), kovidskyj/kovidnyj (adj.) ‘related
to COVID-19’, kovidnyk ‘a separate part of a hospital for COVID-19 patients’, zakoviduvaty ‘to be
infected with COVID-19’, koronapošestʹ ‘corona epidemic’.
Russian: kovidka (the diminutive of the COVID-19 disease), kovidnyj/nekovidnyj (adj.) ‘related to
COVID-19’, kovidlo, a neologism used to “tame” the COVID-19 disease, created after strašilo
‘monster’ or povidlo ‘plum jam’, koronavirʹe ‘the coronavirus pandemic’, kontaktnik/kontaktnyj ‘a
person who has had contact with people infected with COVID-19’, bessimptomnik ‘an
asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19’, koronasmertʹ ‘corona-death’.
Social distancing, everyday life under lockdown
Bulgarian: samoizolacija ‘self-isolation’, karantina ‘quarantine’, karantiniram ‘to put under
quarantine’, rabota houm o s ‘work from home’, distancionno obučenie ‘distance education’,
kovidski vremena ‘COVID times’.
Macedonian: samoizolacija ‘self-isolation’, korona-izolacija ‘coronavirus isolation’, korona
pozdrav ‘coronavirus-safe greeting’, korona žurka, korona zabava ‘an (illegal) social event or
party during the coronavirus pandemic’, karantinski prikazni ‘quarantine stories’, karantinski
dnevnik ‘quarantine diary’, karantinski vikend ‘quarantine weekend’, karantinski Veligden
‘quarantine Easter’, karantinski rodenden ‘quarantine birthday’, karantinski izgled ‘quarantine
look’, vo vreme na korona ‘in the time of the coronavirus’ (e.g., obrazovanie vo vreme na korona
‘education in the time of the coronavirus’, kultura vo vreme na korona ‘culture in the time of the
corona’), korona-glupak ‘a person who ignores the warnings regarding public health or safety,
lit. a corona jerk’.
BCMS: samoizolacija ‘self-isolation’, korona pozdrav ‘coronavirus-safe greeting’, koronaparty,
koronazabava, koronatulum (Sr koronažurka) ‘an (illegal) social event or party during the
coronavirus pandemic’, koronašoping ‘shopping during the pandemic’, koronahumor ‘humor
about the coronavirus and lockdown’, koronamem ‘a meme about the coronavirus and
lockdown’, koronavic, koronaštos ‘a joke about the coronavirus and lockdown’, koronasaga ‘a
series of events during the coronavirus pandemic’, karantenski (Sr karantinski) izazov ‘a
quarantine challenge’, karantenski (karantinski) stil ‘quarantine style’, karantenski uvjeti (Sr
karantinski uslovi) ‘conditions during quarantine’, post korona ‘post-corona’ (e.g., post korona
putovanje ‘post-corona travel’), postkoronski ‘after corona’ (e.g., postkoronski turnir ‘a match
/after the corona outbreak’), telenastava / TV nastava ‘distance teaching’, kovidiot ‘a person who
ignores the warnings regarding public health or safety’ (a blend of kovid ‘COVID’ and idiot
‘idiot’, cf. En covidiot).
Slovene: samoizolacija, samoosamitev ‘self-isolation’, samokarantena ‘self-quarantine’,
koronapozdrav, koronski pozdrav ‘coronavirus-safe greeting’, koronapočitnice ‘corona holidays’,
koronamatura ‘taking secondary-school examinations during the coronavirus pandemic’,
koronahumor ‘humor about the coronavirus and lockdown’, postkoronski ‘after corona’ (e.g.,
postkoronska tekma ‘a match after the corona outbreak’), koronabedak ‘a person who ignores
the warnings regarding public health or safety, lit. a corona jerk’.
Czech: koroizolace ‘isolation during the coronavirus pandemic’, koronáče ‘school lockdown
during pandemic’, velikoronoce/korononoce/kovidonoce ‘Easter during the coronavirus
quarantine’, koronostalgie ‘nostalgia of the times before the pandemic’, koronadoba ‘times of
the pandemic’, koronákaza ‘the coronavirus pandemic’, koronášup ‘the second wave of
pandemic’, koronit ‘to spend time during the pandemic’, koronákup ‘buying groceries in bulk, lit.
corona shopping’.
Slovak: koronténa (colloquial) ‘quarantine’, koronavečierok, koronažúr, koronapárty ‘an (illegal)
social event or party during the coronavirus pandemic’, koroniny ‘Easter or other holiday during
pandemic’, koronaout t ‘a color, fashionable face mask’.
Polish: koronaferie ‘obligatory lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak’, koronawakacje
‘corona holidays’, koronamatura ‘taking secondary-school examinations during the coronavirus
pandemic’, koronalia ‘an (illegal) event or party organized by students during the coronavirus
quarantine or (ironic) obligatory staying at home during quarantine’, koronaparty,
koronaimpreza ‘an (illegal) social event or party during the coronavirus pandemic’, korontanna
‘quarantine’, koronashopping ‘corona shopping; buying groceries in bulk’, korona-humor ‘humor
about the coronavirus and lockdown’, koronaświr ‘a person who responds to the coronavirus
pandemic with panic, lit. corona freak’ and ‘a person who ignores the warnings regarding
public health or safety’ (see also koronoidiota ‘corona jerk’).
Ukrainian: koronavečirka ‘a party during the coronavirus pandemic’, kovidiot ‘covidiot’,
karantynosesiya ‘exams during lockdown’, koronaabsurd ‘corona absurd’, karantynyty ‘to
quarantine’, perekarantynyty ‘to end quarantine’, zumni dni ‘days when you have to work using
the Zoom service’ (“Zoom” is a paronym of Uk sum ‘sadness’), kovidvyi klub ‘a COVID club, used
to refer to people talking about COVID-19’, dystantsiyka ‘remote learning or working’,
zonuvannya ‘zoning of the territory of Ukraine depending on the epidemic level’, koronialy,
kovidialy ‘generation born after the COVID-19 outbreak’.
Russian: karantinkuly ‘obligatory lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak’ (a compound of
karantin ‘quarantine’ and kanikuly ‘holidays’), karantini ‘an alcoholic drink during the
pandemic’ (similar to En quarantini), sididomcy ‘people following recommendations of staying
home’ (Ru te, kto sidjat doma ‘lit. those who sit at home’), poguljancy ‘people leaving home and
/walking on the streets’ (Ru te, kto guljajut ‘lit. those who walk around’), udalenka and
distancionka ‘remote work’, zumitʹsja ‘to use the Zoom service in remote work’, zumbi ‘a person
using Zoom’, kovidiot ‘covidiot’.
Economic losses and anti-crisis measures
Bulgarian: kriza s koronavirusa ‘coronavirus crisis’, ikonomičeski merki za borba s koronavirusa
‘economic measures to combat the coronavirus’, kredit kovid-19 ‘COVID-19 credit’, razxlabvane
na merkite ‘easing the COVID-19 restrictive measures’, turističeski vaučer ‘tourist voucher’.
Macedonian: korona-kriza ‘coronavirus crisis’, korona biznis ‘coronavirus business’, post-korona
razvoj ‘post-coronavirus development’, post korona plan ‘post-coronavirus plan’, post-korona era
‘post-coronavirus era’, post-korona meč ‘post-coronavirus game’, post-korona pobeda ‘post-
coronavirus win’, post-korona pobednik ‘post-coronavirus winner (in sports)’.
BCMS: koronakriza ‘coronavirus crisis’, koronaobveznice ‘coronavirus bonds’, korona kredit ‘a
loan for small business’, relaksacija (or relaksiranje) mjera (in Serbian also: mera) ‘easing the
COVID-19 restrictive measures’.
Slovene: koronakriza, koronska kriza ‘coronavirus crisis’, koronaobveznice ‘coronavirus bonds’,
brezstična dostava ‘a contactless delivery’, ponovni zagon gospodarstva ‘reactivation (lit. restart)
of the economy’, turistični vavčer / turistični bon ‘a travel voucher issued by the Financial
Administration of the Republic of Slovenia’.
Czech: koronakrize ‘coronavirus crisis’, koronerv (colloquial) ‘an aid scheme for the Czech
economy operated by the national economic council (národní ekonomická rada vlády),
koronavirová opona ‘a border closed during the coronavirus pandemic (lit. the coronavirus
curtain’; cf. železná opona ‘the iron curtain’), kovidné ‘ nancial help during the COVID-19
pandemic provided by the Czech state’.
Slovak: koronabondy ‘coronavirus bonds’, coronacesia ‘recession during the COVID-19
pandemic’.
Polish: koronakryzys ‘coronavirus crisis’, koronaobligacje ‘coronavirus bonds’, odmrażanie
gospodarki ‘reactivation (lit. defrosting) of the economy’, turyści “COVID free” ‘tourists without
COVID-19’, bon turystyczny ‘a travel voucher issued by the Polish social insurance agency
(zakład ubezpieczeń społecznych)’.
Ukrainian: korona kryza ‘corona crisis’, koronaobligacii ‘coronavirus bonds’, koronaklizmy, a
blend of korona ‘corona’ and kataklizmy ‘cataclysms/catastrophes’ referring to the huge losses
and inconvenience caused by the virus, kovid-fond ‘COVID-19 fund’, Ковчег /Covчег допомоги
Kovčeh/Cov-čeh dopomohy ‘the name of an organization aimed at helping combat the virus’(a
blend of covid ‘COVID’ + kovčeh ‘lit. Noah’s Ark’ + dopomohy ‘help’).
Russian: koronakrizis ‘corona crisis’, koronaobligacii ‘coronavirus bonds’.
/Other inconveniences and risks caused by the pandemic Bulgarian: psixoza okolo korona virusa ‘psychosis caused by the coronavirus’ Macedonian: korona-upis ‘university application during the coronavirus’, korona-užas ‘coronavirus horror’, korona-cirkuzi ‘coronavirus circus, confusions caused by the coronavirus’. BCMS: panikdemija ‘panic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic’, koronafobija ‘coronavirus phobia’, koronamanija ‘coronavirus mania’, koronaludilo ‘mass insanity caused by the coronavirus’, korona užas ‘coronavirus horror’, koronatres (a blend of korona ‘corona’ and potres ‘earthquake’, referring to the strong earthquake in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Mar 22, 2020, during the lockdown). Slovene: koronapsihoza ‘psychosis caused by the coronavirus’, koronanorija ‘madness caused by the coronavirus’, koronapanika ‘panic caused by the coronavirus’. Czech: korošpek/koro(na)sádlo ‘the weight one puts on during the quarantine, lit. corona fat’, koronavous ‘moustache grown during the quarantine, lit. corona moustache’, koroháro ‘hair grown during the quarantine, lit. corona hair’, koronachaos ‘chaos caused by the coronavirus outbreak, lit. corona chaos’, koronahled ‘an outlook on every aspect of life infused by fear of the coronavirus, lit. corona outlook’, alkoronik ‘a person who got addicted to alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic’, koronafest, koronakce ‘a public event with limited access during the COVID-19 pandemic’, koronuda ‘boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic’. Polish: koronapsychoza ‘psychosis caused by the coronavirus’, koronapanika ‘panic caused by the coronavirus’, koronadepresja ‘depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, lit. corona depression’, koronachaos ‘chaos caused by the coronavirus outbreak, lit. corona chaos’, koronaoszust ‘corona fraudster/conman, a person who uses the coronavirus pandemic for fraud, e.g., by o fering an expensive “wonder” drug against COVID-19’. Ukrainian: koronapsyxoz ‘psychosis caused by the coronavirus’, koronapanika ‘panic caused by the coronavirus’. Russian: koronapsixoz ‘psychosis caused by the coronavirus’. Pandemic denial, allegations against personal or group advantage in politics or economy, and alternative (nonmedical) methods of ghting the pandemic Bulgarian: koronavirus skeptik ‘coronavirus skeptic’, medicinski fašizăm ‘medical fascism’. Macedonian: korona pro ter ‘a person who bene ts from the coronavirus’, korona fašizam ‘corona fascism’. BCMS: koronapro ter, koronski pro ter ‘a person who bene ts from the coronavirus’, koronakriminalac ‘a person who is convicted of crimes related to the coronavirus situation’, koronski zločin ‘using the coronavirus crisis to make fake shops and inferior protective masks /
with fake markings’, plandemija ‘presenting the pandemic outbreak as a planned conspiracy’.
Slovene: plandemija ‘presenting the pandemic outbreak as a planned conspiracy’.
Czech: koronafašismus ‘the negative impact of COVID-19 measures on freedom, lit. corona
fascism’, virokracie (ironic), a blend of virus ‘virus’ and demokracie ‘democracy’ referring to the
power of the virus, pandemagog, a blend of pandemie ‘pandemic’ and demagog ‘demagogue’,
antirouškař ‘a person refusing to wear a mask’.
Slovak: antirúškar ‘a person refusing to wear a mask’.
Polish: koronaściema ‘negation of the pandemic, lit. corona scam’, koronabajki ‘negation of the
pandemic by conspiracy theories, lit. corona tales’, plandemia ‘presenting the pandemic
outbreak as a planned conspiracy’, antymaseczkowiec ‘a person refusing to wear a mask’,
koronalans ‘using the pandemic to promote oneself’, koronapolityka ‘coronavirus politics’,
koronawybory ‘coronavirus election, the presidential election on May 10, 2020’, koronaprezydent
‘a president who would be elected in the so-called coronavirus election, lit. corona president’,
koronabunt ‘corona rebellion or protest’, koronademokracja (ironic), a blend of korona ‘corona’
and demokracja ‘democracy’ referring to the negative impact of COVID-19 measures on
democracy.
Ukrainian: koronamajdan, a blend of korona ‘corona’ and majdan ‘a rebellion against the
ine fectual administration in Ukraine’, kovid-dysydenty a blend of kovid ‘COVID’ and dysydenty
‘dissidents’ used to refer to those who ignore quarantine, kovihisty ‘a blend of kovid ‘COVID’ and
po hist ‘lit. devil-may-care’, used to refer to those who ignore quarantine’, Ze-KARAntyn ‘a pun,
an allusive blend of clipped Ze coming from president Volodymyr Zelensʹkyi’s surname +
QUARAntine (“QUARA” is pronounced as Uk kara ‘punishment’)’, antimasočnik ‘a person
refusing to wear a mask’, korona-afery ‘corona a fairs’, koronaperevorot, koronabunt ‘corona riot’,
koronabissya ‘corona obsession’, baranovirus, a blend of baran ‘ram’ and virus ‘virus’ referring to
state-power manipulation.
Russian: plandemija ‘presenting the pandemic outbreak as a planned conspiracy’, antimasočnik
‘a person refusing to wear a mask’, ikonovirus, a blend of ikona ‘icon’ and virus ‘virus’ used to
refer to mass prayers during the pandemic.
Other vocabulary related to COVID-19
Apart from neologisms, the frequency of use of previously existing words denoting objects and
situations crucial for the pandemic and economic crisis has increased. For example, the
frequency of the syntagm “toilet paper” rose not only in countries where people remember the
permanent lack of it during communism (as in Poland) but also in relatively rich modern
countries. An notable example is the revival of the economic term “helicopter money” (e.g., Sn
helikopterski denar; Po pieniądze [zrzucan]) z helikoptera), referring to a large sum of new
money that is printed and distributed to the public to stimulate the economy during a
recession; “helicopter money” is a gurative expression based on the image of a helicopter
/scattering supplies from the sky after a natural disaster or war. Another gurative expression
used in economy during the pandemic is Po tarcza antykryzysowa ‘the anti-crisis shield’,
denoting the governmental-aid packages for companies that have su fered from the COVID-19
crisis. This expression makes use of war rhetoric (the lexeme tarcza occurs also in the term Po
tarcza antyrakietowa ‘missile defense system’) and indicates a cross-reference mapping
between the domains of war and economics: the crisis is conceptualized as an enemy, the
governmental help as a shield. It is not only economic discourse that makes use of the war
rhetoric but also the media discourse in general: every virus is conceived of as an enemy that
kills people, people are conceptualized as its victims, and measures adopted by a government
are perceived as a ght against the virus. This applies also to gurative expressions describing
the COVID-19 pandemic: e.g., Po koronawirus atakuje ‘the coronavirus attacks’, walka z
koronawirusem ‘a ght against the coronavirus’, mobilizacja branży farmaceutycznej w walce z
SARS-CoV-2 ‘mobilization of the pharmaceutical branch in the ght against SARS-CoV-2’. Other
vocabulary related to the COVID-19 situation in Slavic languages indicates that the experience
of the pandemic is conceptualized as a catastrophe (see Štrkalj Despot 2020: 4 for examples
from Croatian).
However, the domain of “virus” also functions as the source domain from which metaphorical
expressions of abstract notions are drawn, for instance Po wirus nienawiści ‘the virus of hate’
and wirus LGBT ‘the LGBT virus’. The latter was used in a statement given by the right-wing
education superintendent in the Łódź province of Poland, who declared on a show of the
Catholic TV station that the LGBT virus was more dangerous for children than the coronavirus
(in this context, LGBT represents “the LBGT ideology”). The “LGBT virus” is one of the
rhetorical gambits of Poland’s right wing’s contemptuous propaganda against LGBT people.
The in uence of the coronavirus on collective consciousness can be seen not only in new
derivatives but also in allusions. One of these is an article entitled Koronaputin ‘Corona Putin’
about Putin’s plans to introduce amendments to the Russian constitution that would permit
his next term as president: Po vsej planete šagaet novyj virus, a po territorii Rossijskoj Federacii
šagajut novye popravki k Konstitucii ‘A new virus is haunting the whole planet, and new
amendments to the Russian constitution are haunting the Russian Federation’ (Rykovceva
2020). The text is an allusion to The Communist Manifesto: “A spectre is haunting Europe – the
spectre of communism”.
Occasional compounds, such as “Corona-Putin,” as well as the aforementioned Ze-KARAntyn,
represent a broader eld of political humor that, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, is
often referred to as “corona humor” (see Hodalska 2020 for an analysis of jokes and memes
spread on the Internet during the lockdown in Poland).
The new normal, the new reality
At the time when this study was carried out, the world had been dealing with the coronavirus
pandemic for more than half a year. In the middle of summer 2020, many countries in Europe,
including Slavic ones, were facing an increase in the number of active cases of COVID-19. The
/International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee on COVID-19, convened by the
WHO Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), agreed at its meeting on Jul
31, 2020 that the outbreak still constituted a public-health emergency of international concern.
The pandemic continued to present a global health and socioeconomic crisis. The emerging
world order following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been called “the new
normality” or “new reality” (e.g., Ru novaja normalʹnostʹ, novaja realʹnostʹ; Po nowa normalność,
nowa rzeczywistość; Cz nová normalita, nová realita; Sn, Cr, Sr nova normalnost, nova stvarnost).
We cannot predict what kind of living conditions the term will denote in the next six months
or in a year. We can predict, however, that the “new normal” (and the “new reality”) will be
again re ected in new vocabulary in languages used by societies worldwide.
The authors would like to thank linguists from Slavic countries for their help with collecting
vocabulary, comments, and reviews. Bulgarian: Nadezhda Stalyanova. Macedonian: Jasminka
Delova-Siljanova. BCMS: Boban Arsenijević, Marko Simonović. Slovene: Kozma Ahačič, Domen
Krivina. Czech: Michal Škrabal. Slovak: Dana Guričanová. Ukrainian: Marianna Dilay, Iryna
Dilay, Mariya Shvedova.
Agnieszka Będkowska-Kopczyk
Marek Łaziński
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/Cite this page
Będkowska-Kopczyk, Agnieszka and Łaziński, Marek, “COVID-19 Vocabulary in Slavic”, in: Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online,
Editor-in-Chief Marc L. Greenberg. Consulted online on 21 January 2021
First published online: 2020
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