czerwoniak

Polish

Etymology

From czerwony +‎ -ak.[1] Sense 2 is due to the fact that these busses were typically painted red during Polish People's Republic. Sense 3 is due the red printing ink used in the vignettes and headlines of these newspapers' articles. First attested in 1826.[2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡ʂɛrˈvɔ.ɲak/
  • Rhymes: -ɔɲak
  • Syllabification: czer‧wo‧niak

Noun

czerwoniak m animal

  1. (dated) alternative form of czerwonak (flamingo)
  2. (colloquial) city bus
  3. (Polish interwar period) yellow press (newspaper publishing sensational articles, intended for less sophisticated readers)
  4. (colloquial) brick building (unplastered building with walls made of red brick)
  5. (1960s Poland) hundy (one hundred zloty banknote)
    Synonym: stówka

Declension

Noun

czerwoniak m pers

  1. (colloquial, derogatory) red (communist)
    Synonyms: czerwony, komuch, komunista

Declension

References

  1. ^ Halina Zgółkowa, editor (1994–2005), “czerwoniak”, in Praktyczny słownik współczesnej polszczyzny, volumes 1–50, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Kurpisz, →ISBN
  2. ^ Swetoniusz (1826) K. T. Swetoniusza Dzieje dwunastu cesarzów rzymskich (in Polish), volume 2, page 285

Further reading

  • czerwoniak in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • czerwoniak in Polish dictionaries at PWN