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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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 William Ralston Shedden Ralston

Thou shalt not take her to thy people into a warm izba.

From Folk Tales from the Russian by Various

To transform a village into a town, it was necessary merely to prepare an izba, or log-house, for the district court, another for the police-office, a third for the prison, and so on.

From Russia by Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace