khalyava

Shvetsov’s term, khalyava (халява), is untranslatable, and even its origin in the Russian language is unclear. It is a slightly crude term (but not a swear word) for something that you get for free while doing absolutely nothing.

Today, khalyava is ubiquitous in marketing campaigns, especially on the internet. As always in Russian, the word inspires a string of adjectives and nouns with a similar root, notably khalyavshchik, a bad worker who expects to get the benefits of other people’s labors. Linguists have not been able to trace definitively how the word has come to signify a freebie: Dal’s Dictionary lists the meanings of the word as the leather upper of a boot, or a piece of glass that has been made into a bubble. Some believe the meaning stems from the Hebrew word khalav (milk) or even khailava, apparently used in the Chukchi language. Both seem equally unlikely.

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