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

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

Round her came swarming countless devils, the izba was full of them!

From Russian Fairy Tales A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore by Ralston, William Ralston Shedden

He became quite a new man, courageous, sober, and industrious; bought a grove and some cattle; remodeled the izba, and even started a trade.

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 Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich