Do you want to know how many words are in Russian?

The answer to the question of how many words in Russian is difficult to answer directly. For example, in the dictionary of SI Ozhegov only the most common words are about 57 thousand. You can also refer to the most authoritative of existing dictionaries - the Great Academic, which contains as many as 17 volumes. The list of Russian words in this bibliographic edition totals 131 257. By the way, in 1970 this work was awarded the Lenin Prize, but, unfortunately, quickly became a rarity. Replaced his slightly outdated, but popular dictionary of Dahl.

Despite such a precise number, we can not say that the answer to the question of how many words in the Russian language is given correctly. Rather, this answer will be conditional because of the large number of reservations that can easily change this number of words. Only it is necessary to add to the adjectives the suffix for making an adverb, as the words will become even more, say, about several tens of thousands. For example, from the adjective "frank" we form the adverb "frankly". In the dictionary this naming is not indicated by an independent unit.

It should be added that the dictionary contains only words from the language of the literary, that is, the standardized, and yet there are words of nationwide Russian communication! The language is rich in a huge number of nouns and adjectives that exist in rural areas, in which there is a very large variety of the most incredible dialect words. Try to guess that the "sweat" in the Vyatka villages means a bird! And the verb "Nuhrut"? Immediately and do not say that from the Vologda dialect this pearl is translated as "seek." Of course, in some dictionaries such words are indicated, even specialized dialect dictionaries for this or that area have been written. But not a single dictionary is able to answer the question of how many words in Russian.

Well, let's leave dialectisms alone. They are not so often found in literary language, except in some works of art for giving them a special mood and interesting narration.

Let's remember a separate group of words in Russian, which can not be found in any dictionary, although they are all commonly known and widely used. These include, as a rule, terms, neologisms, proper names and other categories of words. For example, the abbreviation "RAS" is the Russian Academy of Sciences. Do not count how many times this name is used in any news or scientific reports. However, this reduction is absent in the Great Academic Dictionary. Like a foreign language, but such a native word "computer" is a modern symbol of information-rich life. However, all of its derivatives are also not found in any of the dictionaries.

It is obvious that foreign words in Russian have become very used in recent decades. They wanted to release an updated Grand Academic Dictionary in 20 volumes, but ... After the fourth it was clear that it had no meaning. New and new words constantly appear in our language. When communicating on the Internet, watching TV or reading specialized magazines - everywhere you will see your own set of words and in some places, perhaps slang.

So how many words in Russian really? Very, and once again a very large number. Each of them changes in its own way, new words, their derivatives appear. Language lives its own life, obeying the modern trend and the passage of time.