izba

American  

[iz-bah] / ɪzˈbɑ /

Or isba

noun

1. the traditional log house of rural Russia, with an unheated entrance room and a single living and sleeping room heated by a clay or brick stove.

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Etymology

Origin of izba

1775–85; < Russian izbá (diminutive istópka ), Old Russian istŭba house, bath, cognate with Serbo-Croatian ìzba small room, shack, Czech jizba room, Old Czech jistba, jizdba, all < Slavic *jĭstŭba ≪ Vulgar Latin *extūfa, with short u perhaps < Germanic *stuba; see stove ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

izba

For as long as an ikon hung in the corner of a Russian izba, Patriarch Sergei would always be right.

From Time Magazine Archive

Icons may still be seen without concealment in many a peasant izba, even in the collective farms.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the same time the big room of the izba, as the peasant's house is called, has to be cleared, the floor washed, and the table and benches scrubbed.

From Russia by Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace

The poor brother became very poor, so poor that very often there was no crust even in the "izba," the peasant's log cabin, and the children—all forlorn, miserable little things—cried for food.

From Folk Tales from the Russian by Various

Then he parted the thorn-bush with a knotty stick, and before him stood a tiny izba, on chicken's legs, as they say.

From Stories by Foreign Authors: Russian by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol