silovik

English

Etymology

From Russian силови́к (silovík), from си́ла (síla, “force”) + adjective suffix -ов (-ov, “-able/-ible”) + agent suffix -ик (-ik, “-ist, -er”), adjective: силово́й (silovój, “of or related to force”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsiːləvɪk/, /ˈsɪləvɪk/

Noun

silovik (plural siloviks or siloviki)

  1. (politics) A member of the Russian military, law enforcement, or intelligence services (the KGB or FSB), or a politician with a background in such services.
    • 2023, Robert Service, “The Misinformation Game”, in Literary Review, number 520:
      [T]he so-called siloviki have installed themselves deep inside the country’s boss class – something that did not happen to anything like the same degree during the Cold War.

Translations

See also

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.