Dictionary
Practice
Media
чино́вничество
noun, neuter, inanimate
Very rarely used word (top 30,000)
bureaucracy, officialdom, the elite apparatus
Often carries critical or negative tone
Почему чиновничество всё ещё не поняло, что народ всё видит?
Why has the bureaucracy still not understood that the people see everything?
Usage info
Implies red tape, self-serving officials, inertia, corruption, ineffectiveness, disconnectedness, etc.
The term existed in the Russian Empire (it appears in 19th-century writers like Nikolai Gogol or Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin), where it naturally referred to the imperial civil service. It carried over seamlessly into Soviet and modern Russian usage. It’s still used today in journalism, political commentary, and everyday speech.
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nom.nominative | чино́вничество | чино́вничества |
| gen.genitive | чино́вничества | чино́вничеств |
| dat.dative | чино́вничеству | чино́вничествам |
| acc.accusative | чино́вничество | чино́вничества |
| inst.instrumental | чино́вничеством | чино́вничествами |
| prep.prepositional | чино́вничестве | чино́вничествах |
Contributions
thinkpad20 edited translation 5 days ago.
