boyar

Also bo·yard

[boh-yahr, boi-er]

noun

1. Russian History.,  a member of the old nobility of Russia, before Peter the Great made rank dependent on state service.

2. a member of a former privileged class in Romania.

boyar

/ ˈbɔɪə, ˈbəʊjɑː /

noun

1. a member of an old order of Russian nobility, ranking immediately below the princes: abolished by Peter the Great

Other Word Forms

• boyarism noun
• boyardism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of boyar¹

First recorded in 1585–95; earlier boiaren, from Russian boyárin, akin to Old Church Slavonic bolyarinŭ (translating Greek megistán “man of high status”), Bulgarian bolyár(in); further origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of boyar¹

C16: from Old Russian boyarin , from Old Slavonic boljarinǔ , probably from Old Turkic boila a title

Example Sentences

This one held a dozen long banquet tables, all packed with what Anya assumed were the tsar’s noble boyars.

Read more on Literature

In an important distinction from Western practice, the boyars — Moscow’s version of nobility — held status and property solely at the czar’s pleasure, with no rights of private ownership.

Read more on New York Times

This he afterwards explained by saying that to a boyar the pride of his house and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their fate is his fate.

Read more on Literature

Putin understood that to rule Russia he had to stay genuinely popular with “the masses” and from time to time crack his whip at the elites: a “good tsar” reining in the greedy “boyars”.

Read more on The Guardian

That has made the Kremlin virtually the only recourse for Russia’s discontents and bolstered faith in a centuries-old adage: The czar is good, but the boyars—the greedy, sycophantic nobles who surround him—are bad.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal