Kyiv

American  

[kee-eev, keev, kyi-yif] / ˈki iv, kiv, ˈkyɪ yɪf /

noun

1. a city in and the capital of Ukraine, on the Dnieper River.

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Etymology

Origin of Kyiv

First recorded in 1805–10 with spelling Kiev; the spelling Kyiv was first recorded in 1950–55; Kiev from Russian Kíev, Kyiv from Ukrainian Kýiv, both from Old East Slavic Kyevŭ; of uncertain origin. Traditional (folk) etymology derives the name from Kyi, one of the legendary founders of the city; another etymology suggests that the name of the city was Sarmatian (Iranian) Kiovi Kii “heights, mountains,” and that its inhabitants, a Sarmatian tribe, were called Kivi “mountaineers”

Example Sentences

HRYHORIVKA, Ukraine—When relentless Russian bombing cut the power and heat to Radoslava Kabachiy’s apartment in Kyiv’s historic center in late January, she did what Ukrainians have done for centuries when Moscow attacks: headed for the village.

From The Wall Street Journal

In January, Kyiv’s mayor urged residents to leave the city if they had somewhere to go, saying that about 600,000 had already done so.

From The Wall Street Journal

After two weeks without heating and five days without power, coping with constant stress and sleeping problems, 36-year-old Kabachiy and her husband packed up essentials, including their cat Frida, and traveled 30 miles south of Kyiv to a village house her mother had bought decades earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal

By that point, the 25-year-old and her partner had been living without heating for two weeks in Kyiv, boiling water over a candle and dressing themselves—and their dogs—in layers of clothes.

From The Wall Street Journal

When Skachkova and her partner, Lina Rohovska, a 27-year-old marketing specialist, unpacked and sat down for tea, they realized how exhausted they had been by the cold and darkness in Kyiv.

From The Wall Street Journal