soviet

Meanings

Noun

• A workers' council, an institution first formed during the 1905 Russian Revolution and then instituted as the main form of communist government at all levels in the Soviet Union; by extension, a similar organization in early Chinese communism and elsewhere.

Adjective

• Pertaining to or resembling a soviet (council).

Origin

• Borrowed from Russian сове́т ("council"), from Old Russian borrowed from Old Church Slavonic съвѣтъ ("advice"). Compounded from съ- + вѣтъ, from Proto-Slavic *větъ ("council, talk"). Related words include наве́т, изве́т, отве́т, приве́т, обе́т, ве́че, отвеча́ть, отве́тить, завеща́ть, and совещаться. Probably cognate with Polish witać ("to welcome").