silovik

English

Etymology

From Russian силови́к (silovík), from си́ла (síla, “force”) + adjective suffix -ов (-ov, “-able/-ible”) + agent suffix -ик (-ik, “-ist, -er”), adjective: силово́й (silovój, “of or related to force”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːləvɪk/, /ˈsɪləvɪk/

Noun

silovik (plural siloviks or siloviki)

1. (politics) A member of the Russian military, police, or intelligence services (chiefly the KGB or, later, the FSB), or a politician with a background in such services.
   • 2023, Robert Service, “The Misinformation Game”, in Literary Review, number 520:

     [T]he so-called siloviki have installed themselves deep inside the country’s boss class – something that did not happen to anything like the same degree during the Cold War.

Translations

former member of the security services and the military, any power structure (Russia)

• Armenian: ուժային (hy) (užayin)
• Belarusian: сілаві́к m (silavík)
• Bulgarian: силови́к m (silovík)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西羅維基／西罗维基 (xīluówéijī), 強力部門／强力部门 (qiánglì bùmén)

• Dutch: silovik m
• Finnish: silovikki (fi)
• French: silovik (fr) m
• German: Silowik m
• Hebrew: סילוביקי m (silovík)
• Japanese: シロヴィキ (shiroviki), シロヴィク (shiroviku)
• Korean: 실로비키 (sillobiki), 실로비크 (sillobikeu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: silovik m

• Russian: силови́к (ru) m (silovík)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: силовик m

  Roman: silovik m

• Swedish: silovik c
• Turkish: silovik
• Ukrainian: силови́к m (sylovýk)

See also

• securocrat