oblast

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A region or province in Slavic or Slavic-influenced countries.

Pronunciation

/ˈɒblæst/ /ˈɒblɑːst/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-oblast.wav

Word forms

oblast oblasts oblasti

Etymology

From a Slavic language, probably Russian о́бласть (óblastʹ, “region, province”), borrowed from Old Church Slavonic область (oblastĭ), from Proto-Slavic *obolstь, from earlier *obvolstь, *obvoldtь, a compound of *o(b)- (“over”) + *volstь (“rule, power, authority”), thus originally probably meaning "a region ruled over". Compare Proto-Slavic *obvoldati (“to rule”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.