Appendix:A Clockwork Orange

This is a list of the Nadsat words and other fictional terms found in the book by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, along with their meanings in English and their lexical origins.

The Nadsat slang word is shown with its closest English meaning or meanings. Its Russian origin is shown in Cyrillic, with an approximate transliteration, if pronounced (very) differently from the Nadsat. The translation of the Russian word is also shown if it differs from the English meaning. Words of uncertain origin are marked with a '?', and words which are modified English slang (not of foreign origin) are marked with a '-'.

Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Terms in A Clockwork Orange

Nadsat	English	Word origin
A
all that cow	all that rubbish	possibly influenced by cal, see below
appy-polly-loggies	apologies	Highly exaggerated pronunciation of apologies – Burgess's homage to James Joyce's ALP in Finnegans Wake
auto	car	Short for automobile; mirrors the usage in Russian: see авто (avto). Not exclusively Nadsat.
B
baboochka	old woman	бабушка (babuška, literally “grandmother”)
baddiwad	bad	Reduplication of bad Young child talk
banda	band	банда (banda, “gang”)
barry place	prison	From bars on windows in prisons.
bedways	to bed	—
bezoomny	mad, crazy	безумный (bezumnyj)
biblio	library	библиотека (biblioteka) from bibliothèque
bitva	battle	битва (bitva)
blub	weep, cry	English slang. Not exclusively Nadsat. From the verb form of the English word blubber, often used in a dismissive or insensitive manner, meaning to sob or weep noisily.
Bog	God	бог (bog) (pronounced /box/ (where x sounds like kh) or (in some dialects) /bog/)
bogman	godman	See section G below
boomaboom	thunder	Onomatopoeia. Reduplication of boom
bolnoy	sick	больной (bolʹnoj)
bolshy	big, great	большой (bolʹšoj); больший (bolʹšij, “larger”). Cf bolshie
boohoo, boohoohoo	to cry	From the sound that one makes while crying. Not exclusively Nadsat.
boorjoyce	bourgeois	Burgess' pronunciation of "bourgeois".
bootick	boutique	бутик (butik) from boutique, and a phonetic spelling of the English
brat, bratty	brother	брат (brat), and a pun on English brat
bratchny	bastard	брачный (bračnyj, “matrimonial”), — likely a shortened внебрачный (vnebračnyj, “out-of-wedlock”), even though stripping it of the prefix inverts the meaning
britva	razor	бритва (britva)
brooko	belly	брюхо (brjuxo)
brosay, brosat	to throw	бросай (brosaj, “throw!”, imperative), бросать (brosatʹ, “to throw”)
bruiseboys	police officers, security guards	cf bruiser
bugatties	riches	богатый (bogatyj).
bugatty	rich	богатый (bogatyj); cf Bugatti, a type of luxury car.
C
cables	blood vessels, tendons?, veins	from their appearance
caff	café	café, caffè, кафе (kafe), not exclusively Nadsat.
cal	crap	кал (kal, “faeces”), sometimes used as an invective as well
cancer	cigarette	Short for English slang cancer stick from the disease with which heavy smoking is most commonly associated
cantora	office	контора (kontora)
carman	pocket	карман (karman)
chai	tea	чай (čaj), not exclusively Nadsat.
charles, charlie	chaplain	A play on Charlie Chaplin. Not exclusively Nadsat.
chasha	cup	чашка (čaška); чаша (čaša, “large bowl”)
chasso	guard	часовой (časovoj)
cheena	woman	женщина (ženščina)
cheest	to wash	чистить (čistitʹ, “to clean”)
chelloveck	person, man, fellow	человек (čelovek, “human, man”)
chepooka	nonsense	чепуха (čepuxa)
chinny	whiny	нытье (nytʹje)
choodessny	wonderful	чудесный (čudesnyj)
chumble	to mumble	Blend of chatter +‎ mumble
cine	cinema, film	French slang ciné; cf кино (kino)
clockwork	mechanically responsive	(See notes)
clop	to knock	хлопать (xlopatʹ, “clap”); German klopfen (“to knock”); onomatopoeia
cluve	beak	клюв (kljuv)
collocoll	bell	колокол (kolokol)
crack	to break up, smash	—
crark	to howl	Blend of crow +‎ bark
crast	steal, rob, robbery	красть (krastʹ, “to steal”)
creech	to shout, scream	кричать (kričatʹ)
cutter	money	From Cockney rhyming slang derived from bread-and-butter
D
dama	lady	дама (dama); cf Dame
decrep	elder	Short for "decrepit"
ded, dedoochka	old man	дед (ded), дедушка (deduška, “grandfather”), coll. "old man"
deng	money	деньги (denʹgi)
disc, disk	music record	disque, диск (disk)
disk-bootick	record shop, literally disc-boutique	диск (disk) + бутик (butik), cf discothèque
devotchka	young woman	девочка (devočka, “girl”)
dobby	good	добрый (dobryj, “kind, good”)
dook	trace, ghost	дух (dux, literally “spirit”); Romani dook (“magic”)
domy	house	дом (dom) or abbreviation of domicile
dorogoy	dear, valuable, expensive	дорогой (dorogoj)
dratsing	fighting	драться (dratʹsja, “to fight”)
drencrom	drug	Possibly adrenochrome
droog	friend	друг (drug, “friend”)
droogie	friendly	дружелюбно (druželjubno, “friendly”)
dung	to defecate	—
dva	two	два (dva)
E
eegra	game	игра (igra)
eemya	name	имя (imja)
eggiweg	egg	Reduplication of egg
em	mother	Derived from the first letter of "mother".
espresso rapido	train	"fast express" in Italian
eunuch jelly	gutless coward	Eunuchs were court advisers who had been castrated; jelly from the notion of someone quivering in fear.
F
fag	tire, exhaust	English slang. Not exclusively Nadsat.
faggy/fagged	tired, exhausted	English slang. Not exclusively Nadsat
fashed	bothered, annoyed, tired	Scots fash
filly	to play or fool around with	Dim. of "fiddle", cf filly (horse)
filmdrome	cinema	From δρόμος (drómos, “course”), meaning "place for doing films".
firegold	strong drink	? "firewater" + gold from its appearance
fist	to punch	From Engl. fist, cf удар кулаком, БИТЬ кулаком
flatblock	block of flats, apartment block	a more Soviet style word formation
flip	wild or flipping	truncation of flipping, a euphemism for "fucking", or Eng. slang to flip out (“to go mad/crazy”)
forella	old trout, old lady	форель (forelʹ), from German Forelle
fuzzy	scratchy	onomatopoiea
G
gazetta	newspaper	газета (gazeta), cf gazette
get	git, unpleasant person	variant of git, not exclusively Nadsat
glazz, glazzies, glazzballs	Eye, eyes (also used to refer to nipples)	глаз (glaz), also a pun on "glass balls"
gloopy	stupid	глупый (glupyj)
glory	hair	Poss. a ref to 1 Corinthians 11:15: "if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."
godman	priest, chaplain
golly	unit of money	Rhyming slang, "lolly," or "pretty polly", or alternatively "golly gosh" as a rhyme for dosh
goloss	voice/tone	голос (golos)
goober	lip	губа (guba), cf gob
gooly	to walk	гулять (guljatʹ)
gorlo	throat	горло (gorlo)
govoreet	speak	говорить (govoritʹ)
grahzny	dirty	грязный (grjaznyj)
grape	uvula	Poss. from its appearance.
grazzy	soiled	грязь (grjazʹ, “dirt”), грязный (grjaznyj, “dirty”)
gromky	loud	громкий (gromkij)
groody	breast	грудь (grudʹ, “breast”), груди pl (grudi, “breasts”)
growling	great	-
gruppa	group	группа (gruppa)
guff, guffaw	laugh	guffaw, not exclusively Nadsat
gulliver	head	голова (golova); Nadsat form influenced by the titular character of Gulliver's Travels
guttiwuts	guts	Reduplication of guts
H
hen-korm	small change, i.e. chickenfeed	Engl. hen + корм (korm, noun, literally “feed”), but cf corn
hilly	excellent	-
horn	to cry out	onomatopoeia or metaphor
horrorshow	good, well, wonderful, excellent	хорошо (xorošo, “well, good”), a pun on "horror show"
hound-and-horny	corny	Rhyming slang
I
in-out in-out, the old in and out	sexual intercourse	—
interessovat	to interest	интересовать (interesovatʹ)
itty	to go	идти (idti, “to go”)
J
jammiwam	jam	Reduplication of jam
jeezny	life	жизнь (žiznʹ)
juice	tears, blood	from their appearance
K
kartoffel	potatoes	картофель (kartofelʹ), which itself is derived from German Kartoffel (“potato”)
kashl	cough	кашель (kašelʹ)
keeshkas	guts	кишка (kiška, “gut”)
kisa	girl	киса (kisa, literally “kitty”)
kleb	bread	хлеб (xleb)
klootch	key	ключ (ključ)
knives	drugs	?knives and forks?
knopka	button	кнопка (knopka); cf knob
knopkavat	buttoning	кнопка (knopka) + -овать (-ovatʹ) (pronounced -avat) suffix used to form verb infinitive from the noun, cf. газ (gaz, “gas”) - colloquial газовать (gazovatʹ, “to gas up”)
kopat	to 'dig' (appreciate)	копать (kopatʹ, literally “to dig”)
korova	cow	корова (korova)
koshka	cat, tomcat	кошка (koška)
koshtoom	clothing	костюм (kostjum, “suit”)
kot	tomcat	кот (kot)
krovvy	blood	кровь (krovʹ), also pun on cuvée a type of wine
kupet	to buy	купить (kupitʹ)
L
lapa	paw	лапа (lapa)
lewdies	people	люди (ljudi), cf Leute; also a pun on lewd
lighter	old woman, crone	лета (leta) (literally "summers", used to express age); cf blighter
litso	face	лицо (lico)
lomtick	piece, bit	ломтик (lomtik, “slice”)
luna	moon	луна (luna); cf lunar
loveted	caught	ловить (lovitʹ, “to catch”)
lubbilubbing	making love	любить (ljubitʹ, “to love”), люблю (ljublju, “(I) love”); Reduplication of love
luscious glory	hair	Rhyming slang, possibly "upper storey" (or, more likely, a reference to 'crowning glory'); poss. a ref to 1 Corinthians 11:15: "if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."
M
malchick	boy	мальчик (malʹčik)
malenky	little, tiny	маленький (malenʹkij)
mappy	wrinkled, crinkled	perhaps from a folded map or contour lines on a map
maskie	mask	маска (maska), also diminutive of mask
maslo	butter	масло (maslo)
merzky	filthy	мерзкий (merzkij, literally “vile, disgusting”)
messel	thought, fancy	мысль (myslʹ)
mesto	place	место (mesto)
mewler (or: mowler)	to mew	—
millicents	police	From милиционер (milicioner, literally “a militsiya officer”) (милиция (milicija)), influenced by the given name Millicent. Cf militia
millicent-van	police car, police van	-
minoota	minute	минута (minuta)
molodoy	young	молодой (molodoj)
moloko	milk	молоко (moloko)
Moloko plus	milk laced with drugs	(See notes)
moodge	man	муж (muž, “husband”), archaic, high-flown "man"
morder	snout	морда (morda)
mounch	snack	munch
munchy-wunching	munching	Reduplication of munching
mozg	brain	мозг (mozg)
N
nachinat	to begin	начинать (načinatʹ)
nadmenny	arrogant	надменный (nadmennyj)
nadsat	teenage	From -надцать (-nadcatʹ, “-teen”), suffix; e.g., одиннадцать (odinnadcatʹ), двенадцать (dvenadcatʹ), тринадцать (trinadcatʹ), etc.
nagoy	naked	нагой (nagoj, “nude”), high-flown for "naked"
nazz	fool	назад (nazad, “backward”) (though in this form only used to signify direction rather than state)
neezhnies	underpants	нижнее n (nižneje, “lower”, adjective); нижнее бельё (nižneje belʹjó, “underwear”)
nochy	night/nocturnal	ночь (nočʹ) ночной (nočnoj)
nogas	feet, legs (also used in reference to cars)	нога (noga)
nozh	knife	нож (nož)
nuking	smelling	нюхать (njuxatʹ, “smell, sniff”); also a pun on "nuke"
O
oddy knocky	on one's own	одинокий (odinokij, literally “alone”)
odin	one	один (odin)
okno	window	окно (okno)
oobivat	to kill	убивать (ubivatʹ)
ookadeet	to leave	уходить (uxoditʹ)
ooko	ear	ухо (uxo)
oomny	brainy	умный (umnyj, “clever”)
oozhassny	terrible	ужасный (užasnyj)
oozy	chain	узы (uzy) archaic, high-flown "shackles"
orange	man, person	Malay orang (“man”), whence orang utan (literally “forest man”), orang-pendek
osoosh	to wipe	осушать (osušatʹ, “to dry”)
otchkies	eyeglasses	очки (očki)
P
pan-handle	erection	from its appearance
pantalonies	pants, underwear	"pantaloons"; панталоны (pantalony)
pee and em	father and mother	"pa and ma", "pater and mater"
peet	to drink	пить (pitʹ)
pishcha	food	пища (pišča)
platch	to cry	плач (plač, noun), плачь (plačʹ, verb imperative)
platties	clothes	платье (platʹje)
pletcho	shoulder	плечо (plečo)
plenny	prisoner	пленный (plennyj, literally “captive”)
plesk	splash	плеск (plesk); plash
plosh	to splash	Onomatopoeia "kerplosh"; plash
plott	body	плоть (plotʹ, “flesh”)
podooshka	pillow	подушка (poduška)
poison	person	Phonetic approximation of person in a Cockney accent
pol	sex	пол (pol, “gender”)
polezny	useful	полезный (poleznyj)
polly	in phrase "pretty polly" = money	Rhyming slang for "lolly"
polyclef	skeleton key	French clef (“key”); Greek poly- (“many”)
pony	to understand	понимать (ponimatʹ, “to understand”)
poogly	frightened	испуганный (ispugannyj, “frightened”), пугливый (puglivyj, “easily scared”)
pooshka	gun	пушка (puška, literally “cannon”), slang "gun"
pop-disc	a record, pop album	—
portwine	a drunk	—
prestoopnik	criminal	преступник (prestupnik)
pretty polly	money	Rhyming slang for "lolly"
privodeet	to lead somewhere	приводить (privoditʹ)
prod	to produce	Truncation
ptitsa	girl	птица (ptica, “bird”), cf. chick (bird is a common slang in Britain for a (young) woman, but is not used in Russian in this sense)
punchipunching	punching	Reduplication of punching
purplewurple	purple, bruised	Reduplication of purple
pusspot	cat	pussycat
pyahnitsa	drunk	пьяница (pʹjanica)
R
rabbit	work	работа (rabota)
rabbiter	worker	работник (rabotnik)
radosty	joy	радость (radostʹ, “joy”)
raskazz	story	рассказ (rasskaz)
rassoodock	mind	рассудок (rassudok)
raz	time	раз (raz, literally “time”), as in "one time, two times"
razdraz	annoy/annoyed	раздражать (razdražatʹ, “annoy”)
razrez	to rip, ripping	разрез (razrez, “a cut”), разрезать (razrezatʹ, “to cut”) impf / pf
rookerful	handful	рука (ruka, “hand, arm”) + ful
rook, rooker	hand	руки pl (ruki), also a pun on rook in the sense of cheating
rot	mouth	рот (rot)
rozz	policeman	rozzer (“policeman”) (Cockney rhyming slang)
rozz-shop	police station	by analogy with cop shop
rozz-van	police car, police van	-
S
sabog	shoe	сапог (sapog, “boot”), cf French sabot (“shoe”)
sakar	sugar	сахар (saxar), cf English saccharine
sammy	generous	"(Good) Samaritan" (Bible Story)
sarky	sarcastic	English slang, not exclusively Nadsat.
scoteena	beast, cow	скотина (skotina, “cattle”)
shaika	gang	шайка (šajka)
sharp	female	Cockney rhyming slang "sharp and blunt" or "sharp knife"
sharries	buttocks	шары pl (šary, “spheres, marbles”) (though in slang Russian it is only used to refer to testicles or female breasts, not buttocks)
shest	barrier	шест (šest, “pole”)
shilarny	desire	желание (želanije, “desire, wish”)
shive	slice	Probably from shiv
shiyah	neck	Russian шея (šeja), Ukrainian шия (šyja)
shlaga	club, bat	German Schläger (“club, bat”, literally “hitter”)
shlem	helmet	шлем (šlem)
shlagnicked	clubbed	"shlaga" + -ник (-nik, “Russian diminutive”)
shlapa	hat	шляпа (šljapa)
shoom	noise, siren	шум (šum)
shoot	fool	шут (šut, “clown, jester”)
shop-crasting	stealing from cars and houses
shvat	take	схватить (sxvatitʹ, “grab”)
sicking	vomiting	-
sick up	throw-up, vomit	-
silver-like	shiny
sinny	film, cinema, movie theater	Mutated spelling of "cine"
skazat	to say	сказать (skazatʹ)
skitebird	shithead	Dialect or slang for seagull, known for their loose bowels
skolliwoll	school	Reduplication of school; школа (škola)
skorry	quick, quickly	скорый (skoryj)
skriking	scratching	Blend of strike +‎ scratch
skvat	to grab	схватить (sxvatitʹ)
sladkvat	sweetest	сладкий (sladkij)
sladky	sweet	сладкий (sladkij)
sloochat	to happen	случаться (slučatʹsja)
sloosh, slooshy	to hear, to listen	слушать (slušatʹ, “listen”), слышать (slyšatʹ, “hear”)
slovo	word	слово (slovo)
smarting	damaged, bruised	-
smeck	laugh	смех (smex, “laughter”)
smot	to look	смотреть (smotretʹ)
sneety	dream	сниться (snitʹsja, “to be seen in a dream”)
sneezy pins-and-needles soda	a soft drink
snoutie	tobacco	From snout, Engl. prison slang for "tobacco" or "cigarette"
snuff it	commit suicide, to die	From the phrase used to put out a lit candle (to snuff it). Not exclusively Nadsat.
snug	small room in traditional British pubs, previously reserved for women
sobirat	to pick up	собирать (sobiratʹ)
sod	to fornicate/bugger, fornicator/bugger	Engl. slang; from sodomy, not exclusively nadsat.
sodding	"fucking", i.e an intensifying particle
sophistos	sophisticated/beautiful people	.
soomka	old woman, old whore	сумка (sumka, “bag”), as in the English slang for old woman
sooka	whore	сука (suka, literally “bitch”), as in the common slang for a whorish or unsavoury woman
soviet	advice, order	совет (sovet, literally “a piece of advice”)
spat, spatchka	to sleep	спать (spatʹ, “to sleep”), спячка (spjačka, “hibernation”)
spat with	to sleep with, have sex	спать (spatʹ, “to sleep”)
splodge, splosh	splash	—
spoogy	terrified	испуганный (ispugannyj)
spuddy	ugly	from the slang "spud ugly", i.e. looking like a potato
Staja	cell, State Jail	Formed from the beginning of the words "STAte JAil"; cf German Stalag, English stalag. It is a possible transliteration of стая (staja, literally “flock (of birds, of wolves)”), but with a different pronunciation}.
steaky wake	steak	A childish pronunciation of the word steak. Cf бифштекс (bifšteks).
starry	ancient, old	старый (staryj)
strack	horror	страх (strax, “fear”)
stoolies	chairs	стулья pl (stulʹja) (from стул (stul)), also diminutive of stool
stripey hole	prison	From appearance of bars, or alternatively the striped uniforms once worn by prisoners.
swoony	excellent, dreamy	swoon
synthemesc	drug	Possibly "synthetic mescaline"
T
tally	waist	талия (talija)
tashtook	handkerchief	From German Taschentuch (literally “pocket-cloth”)
tass	cup	From French tasse or German Tasse
this nochy	tonight	ночь (nočʹ, “night”), the standard Russian is сегодня вечером (sevodnja večerom, literally “today's night”)
thunderbolted, thundery	angry	thunderbolt + ed/-y
tick-tocker	heart	From the sound of a heartbeat, often "ticker" in English slang.
ticklewickled	grazed	Reduplication of tickle
timps	drums	From English timpani
tolchock	punch, hit, smack, push, slap	толчок (tolčok)
toofles	slippers	туфли (tufli, “shoes”)
tree	three	три (tri)
turnitoe	a ?type of dance?, ?tiptoe	turn + toe by analogy with tiptoe
twenty-to-one	fun, gang violence	rhyming slang or pun on ratios in gang attacks
U
ultra-violence	An umbrella term for the assorted violent crimes perpetrated by the setting's youth gangs
unplattied	undressed	платье (platʹje)
V
vareet	to cook up, to think, an idea	варить (varitʹ, literally “to cook by boiling”) (used in Russian in the slang expression "у него/неё котелок варит", literally "his/her small pot is cooking", meaning "he/she thinks well, he/she is smart")
vaysay	washroom, WC	From French pronunciation of w.-c. (“water closet”)
veck	person, man, fellow	человек (čelovek, “person, man”)
vehina	wine	вино (vino), vino
vellocet	drug	Probably fabricated; '-cet' is a common ending of painkillers (e.g., percocet, ultracet). Possibly from speed (velocity), which is slang for the drug amphetamine or possibly suggested by the British motorcycle manufacturers Velocette.
veshch	thing	вещь (veščʹ)
viddy	see	видеть (videtʹ, “to see”)
vino	wine (also used as blood)	вино (vino), vino. Not exclusively Nadsat.
voloss	hair	волос (volos, “a hair”); волосы pl (volosy, “hair”)
von	smell	вонь (vonʹ, “stench”)
vonny	smelly	вонючий (vonjučij)
vred	to harm or damage	вред (vred, “harm”), вредить (vreditʹ, “to harm”)
W
warbles	songs, recordings	From the English word warble (“to sing”). (As in the birds known as "warblers")
worldcast	satellite TV or shortwave radio broadcast	Blend of world +‎ broadcast
Y
yahma	hole	яма (jama)
Yahoodies	Jews	From Arabic يهود pl (yahudi, “Jews”)/ from Hebrew( יהודי- yehudi) Jewish/Jew. Not exclusively Nadsat. Cf жидовка (židovka) or жид (žid) which is considered archaic or antisemitic
yahzick	tongue	язык (jazyk)
yarbles, yarblockos	testicles, possibly "Balls!" or "Bollocks!" from Cockney	яблоко (jabloko, “apple”) (The Russian word doesn't have this meaning, see яйца (jajca, literally “eggs”)); cf bollocks and marbles
yeckate	to drive	ехать (jexatʹ, “to go (by vehicle)”)
Z
zammechat	remarkable	замечательный (zamečatelʹnyj)
zasnoot	sleep	заснуть (zasnutʹ, “to fall asleep”)
zheena	wife	жена (žena)
zoobies	teeth	зубы pl (zuby)
zvonock	bellpull, doorbell	звонок (zvonok, “doorbell”)
zvook	sound	звук (zvuk)

See also

• {{RQ:Burgess Clockwork Orange}}