дрянь

First attested in 1731. From дрань (dranʹ), from Proto-Slavic *dьranь, from *dьranъ, past passive participle of *dьrati (“to tear, flay”).

• IPA^(key): [drʲænʲ]

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дрянь • (drjanʹ) f inan or f anim (genitive дря́ни, nominative plural дря́ни, genitive plural дря́ней)

1. (colloquial) rubbish, trash
   • 1929 – 1940, М. А. Булгаков, Мастер и Маргарита :

     Пошёл я купа́ться на Москва́-ре́ку, ну и попя́тили мо́ю одёжу, а э́ту дрянь оста́вили!

     Pošól ja kupátʹsja na Moskvá-réku, nu i popjátili móju odjóžu, a étu drjanʹ ostávili!

     • 1979 translation by Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky

       I went for a swim in the Moscow River, so they filched my clothes and left me this trash!

2. (figuratively, colloquial, animate) rotter, skunk, dirty dog

• дрянно́й (drjannój)
• дря́нский (drjánskij)
• дрянцо́ (drjancó)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “дрянь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “дрянь”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volumes 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 271
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1978), “*dьranь”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 5 (*dělo – *dьržьlь), Moscow: Nauka, page 217