布尔什维克 (Bù'ěrshíwéikè): Bolshevik (member of Lenin's fa…

Meanings

1 Bolshevik (member of Lenin's faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party that seized power in October 1917 and became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union)

Characters

布

bù

cloth (phonetic 'bo')

尔

ěr

you; that (phonetic '-l')

什

shí

miscellaneous (phonetic 'she')

维

wéi

to maintain (phonetic 'vi')

克

kè

to overcome (phonetic 'k')

Examples

1917年，布尔什维克发动了十月革命。

1917 nián, Bù'ěrshíwéikè fādòngle Shíyuè Gémìng.

In 1917, the Bolsheviks launched the October Revolution.

列宁是布尔什维克党的领袖。

Lièníng shì Bù'ěrshíwéikè dǎng de lǐngxiù.

Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party.

他被指控为布尔什维克分子。

Tā bèi zhǐkòng wéi Bù'ěrshíwéikè fènzǐ.

He was accused of being a Bolshevik.

Tips

history

Five-character phonetic of Russian большевик ('one of the majority'). The Bolsheviks broke from the Mensheviks (孟什维克, 'minority') at the RSDLP's 1903 congress, took power in October 1917, and renamed themselves the Communist Party in 1918. The Chinese transliteration was settled in the 1920s during the early CCP, when Soviet terminology flooded Chinese political writing.