Russian

Noun

каца́п • ‎(kacáp) m anim ‎(genitive каца́па, nominative plural каца́пы, genitive plural каца́пов, feminine каца́пка)

1. (Ukraine) (slang, pejorative) katsap, a Russian person, Russian, Russki

Declension

Synonyms

• (a Russian person): моска́ль ‎(moskálʹ)

Ukrainian

Alternative forms

• кацаб (Western Ukraine)

Etymology

From цап ‎(cap, “billy goat”) with a prefix ка- ‎(ka-). Likening a stereotypically bearded Russian man to a goat. Compare каца́р ‎(kacár, “great czar”). A common folk etymology explains the word as “как-цап” (kak-cap, “like a billy goat”), deriving from Russian как ‎(kak, “as”).

Another credible etymology is from Turkish kasap ‎(“butcher”), from Arabic قَصَّاب ‎(qaṣṣāb, “butcher”). Compare Crimean Tatar къасап ‎(qasap, “butcher”), Ukrainian закаца́пити ‎(zakacápyty, “kill, slaughter”), Bulgarian касап ‎(kasap, “butcher”) and касапин ‎(kasapin, “butcher”), Serbo-Croatian kasap ‎(“butcher”) and kasapin ‎(“butcher”), Romanian casap ‎(“butcher”).

Noun

каца́п • ‎(kacáp) m anim ‎(genitive каца́па, nominative plural каца́пи, feminine каца́пка)

1. (slang, pejorative) katsap, a Russian person, Russian, Russki

Declension

Synonyms

• кацалап
• москаль

Derived terms

See also

• закацапити
• хохол

References

• Bilodid I. K., editor (1970–1980), “кацап”, in Slovnyk ukrajinsʹkoji movy, Kiev: Naukova Dumka
• Melʹnyčuk O. S., editor (1982–2012), “кацап”, in Etymolohičnyj slovnyk ukrajinsʹkoji movy [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kiev: Naukova Dumka
• Rudnycʼkyj, Jaroslav B. (1982), “кацап”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language (in Ukrainian), volume II, Ottawa: Ukrainian Mohylo-Mazepian Academy of Sciences, Ukrainian Language Association, pages 638–639