Chernobyl

See also: Chernóbyl

English

Alternative forms

• Chornobyl (Ukraine)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ)bor.

English Chernobyl

Borrowed from Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tʃɜːˈnɒbəl/, /tʃɜːˈnəʊbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɚˈnoʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒbəl, -əʊbəl

Proper noun

Chernobyl

1. A partially abandoned city and ghost town in northern Ukraine, known as the site of a nuclear disaster.
   • 1991 July 26, Brad Knickerbocker, “Think Tank on the Efficient Energy Trail”, in Christian Science Monitor‎^[1]:

     A couple of oil shocks, a Chernobyl meltdown, and a Gulf War later, his basic message - the need to emphasize efficiency and renewable resources over oil and nuclear power - is still a minority view, […]

2. (by extension) The 1986 nuclear accident which resulted in the abandonment of the aforementioned city.

   After Chernobyl, very few nuclear power plants were built for years.

Derived terms

• Chernobyl syndrome
• Chernobylian
• Chernobylic
• chernobylite (the mineral)
• Chernobylite (a person from Chernobyl)

Translations

city in Ukraine

• Arabic: تْشِيرْنُوبِيل m (tširnūbil)
• Armenian: Չեռնոբիլ (Čʻeṙnobil)
• Basque: Txernobyl
• Belarusian: Чарно́быль m (Čarnóbylʹ)
• Bengali: চেরনোবিল (cernōbil)
• Bulgarian: Черно́бил m (Černóbil)
• Catalan: Txernòbil
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 切爾諾貝利 / 切尔诺贝利 (zh) (Qiè'ěrnuòbèilì)

• Crimean Tatar: Çornobıl
• Czech: Černobyl (cs) m
• Danish: Tjernobyl
• Esperanto: Ĉernobilo
• Estonian: Tšornobõl
• Finnish: Tšernobyl (fi)
• French: Tchernobyl (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩერნობილი (černobili)
• German: Tschernobyl (de) n, Tschornobyl n
• Greek: Τσερνόμπιλ (el) n (Tsernómpil)
• Hebrew: צ׳רנוביל
• Hindi: चेरनोबिल (cernobil)
• Hungarian: Csernobil (hu)
• Italian: Černobyl' m, Cernobil, Čornobyl' (rare)
• Japanese: チョルノーブィリ (Chorunōbuiri), チェルノブイリ (Cherunobuiri)
• Korean: 체르노빌 (Chereunobil)
• Latin: Czernobela f (Medieval, Polish)
• Lithuanian: Černobylis (lt)
• Macedonian: Че́рнобил m (Čérnobil)
• Marathi: चेरनोबिल (cernobil)
• Norwegian: Tsjernobyl

  Nynorsk: Tsjernobyl

• Old Ruthenian: Чорнобыль (Čornobylʹ)
• Polish: Czarnobyl (pl) m
• Portuguese: Chernobyl m, Chernobil m, Tchernóbil
• Russian: Черно́быль (ru) m (Černóbylʹ)
• Samogitian: Černuobīlis
• Serbo-Croatian: Чернобиљ m, Чернобил m, Černobilj m, Černobil m
• Slovak: Černobyľ m
• Slovene: Černobil m
• Spanish: Chernóbyl m, Chernóbil (es)
• Swedish: Tjernobyl (sv)
• Tatar: Чирнүбел (Çirnübel), Каранәремле (Qaranäremle)
• Turkish: Çernobil
• Ukrainian: Чорно́биль (uk) m (Čornóbylʹ)
• Uyghur: چېرنوبىل (chërnobil)
• Yiddish: טשערנאָבל (tshernobl)

Noun

Chernobyl (plural Chernobyls)

1. (by extension) A major nuclear-energy accident.
   • 1994 August, “Nuclear chaos”, in Popular Science, volume 245, number 2, page 54:

     Many secret cities were Chernobyls in slow motion.

   • 1999 May 6, Terence Scully, “When cell phones kill our brain waves, we will worry less”, in The Record (Kitchener, Ont.):

     The effects of a Chernobyl disaster in my community would probably be barely noticeable.

   • 2007 September 7, “Imagining a World Without Humans”, in NPR_TalkNation:

     So those would be a lot of Chernobyls that the ecosystem would have to deal with.

   • 2010 March 10, Ben Garcia, “Many Kuwaitis yet to be convinced on nuke energy”, in Kuwait Times:

     It has to be handled properly with great accuracy and no room for mistakes, because if we do have like a Chernobyl catastrophe, God forbid, it could wipe out our entire people.

See also

• Bhopal
• Fukushima
• Hiroshima

Italian

Alternative forms

• Cernobyl

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛr.no.bil/, /t͡ʃer.noˈbil/
• Rhymes: -ɛrnobil, -il

Proper noun

Chernobyl ?

1. Chernobyl (an abandoned city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, site of a major 1986 nuclear accident)

Portuguese

Proper noun

Chernobyl f

1. alternative spelling of Chernobil