Who or what is 'skuf', Russia's most popular new word?
A significant part of Russian slang nowadays is enriched by borrowings from the English vocabulary. But, there are some outstanding exceptions!
One of the most popular Russian words of 2024 and 2025 is the word ‘скуф’ ('skuf'). It sounds a little alien to be an authentic Russian word. However, it is!
What or, if to be more accurate, who is 'skuf' actually?
Imagine a man aged 35+. He has a beer belly, he doesn't take care of himself, doesn't bother on his appearance, be it hair or clothes. He spends much of free time on the couch watching TV. He has conservative views, not a big income and doesn't care about any perspectives. This is exactly who a ‘skuf’ is.
This word was born as an abbreviation of the last name ‘Skufin’. Alexei ‘Skufin’ (‘Алексей Скуфьин’) is an Internet user, who's not very hot appearance became a meme in the Russian web in the early 2020s.
"Apparently, in this case, the popularity of the word is due to the fact that the type is very common and is perceived as folk," explains Ksenia Kiseleva, PhD in philology and editor-in-chief of Gramota.ru about the Russian language.
And, as the Russian language is very flexible, any word can have dozens of forms and even become a new part of speech. As does the word 'skuf':
- 'скуфыня' (‘skufynya’) or 'скуфесса' (‘skufessa’) is a female ‘skuf’
- 'соскуфиться' (‘soskufit'sya’) is a verb, meaning to become a ‘skuf’
- 'cкуфизация' (‘skufizatsia’, actually, in English, would mean ‘skufization’)
- 'оскуфение' (‘oskufeniye’) is a process of becoming a ‘skuf’.
Now, tell us honestly. Are there any ‘skufs’ among our readers?
