Word.ws English Dictionary

Rus

/ɹuːs/

Rus proper noun: a people made up of Scandinavian warrior merchants who travelled Eastern European river-roads from the eighth century, and whose settlements around Novgorod, Kiev/Kyiv and the Volga and Dnieper/Dnipro gave rise to the Rus' principalities.

Proper noun (1)

Rus (countable and uncountable, plural Rus)

  1. A people made up of Scandinavian warrior merchants who travelled Eastern European river-roads from the eighth century, and whose settlements around Novgorod, Kiev/Kyiv and the Volga and Dnieper/Dnipro gave rise to the Rus' principalities.
    • In 860 the Rus’ streamed southwards and laid siege to Constantinople itself.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 504
    Synonyms:
    Varangians
  2. Kievan Rus, the medieval East Slavic state established by these same warrior merchants in the 9th century, whose capital was in Kiev.
  3. Any of the medieval East Slavic principalities ruled by this class, especially Kievan Rus.
  4. (poetic) The nation of Russia, especially in a transcendent or romantic sense referring to the history and culture of the country.

Noun

Rus (plural Rus)

  1. A person from Rus.
    • And if a Rus hits a Greek, or a Greek a Rus with a sword, a spear or any other weapon, he shall pay five litres of silver for his offence, in accordance with Rus law; and if he be unable (insolvent—Author) his property shall be sold for the best price it fetches, including the very clothes . . .1959, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov, Kiev Rus, Foreign Languages Pub. House, p 244
    • If a Varangian claimed money from a Rus, or a Rus from a Varangian, and the debtor refused to pay, the plaintiff, accompanied by twelve witnesses, . . .1959, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Solov’ev, History of Russia from the Earliest Times [2000], v 3 (The Shift Northward: Kievan Rus, 1154–1228), p 223

Proper noun (2) capitalized: RUS

RUS

  1. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Rural Utilities Service.

Rus meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Malay

Rus in Hindi

medieval East Slavic state, usually or often with a qualifier "Kyiv", "Kievan"
रूस rūs

Rus in Urdu

medieval East Slavic state, usually or often with a qualifier "Kyiv", "Kievan"
رُوس rūs

Rus in Arabic

people
رُوس rūs
medieval East Slavic state, usually or often with a qualifier "Kyiv", "Kievan"
رُوس rūs

Rus in Malay

people
Rus
medieval East Slavic state, usually or often with a qualifier "Kyiv", "Kievan"
Rus, Rus'
More languagesFewer languages
Rus in Indonesian
Rus
Rus in Vietnamese
Rus', Rus

Synonyms of Rus

Forms of Rus

Proper noun
pluralRus
alternative formRus'
alternative formRūs
Noun
pluralRus

Origin of Rus

Earlier form Russ from German Russe etc., from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). More recent use influenced by Russian Русь (Rusʹ), from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). Use with macron was probably influenced by the transliteration of Arabic رُوس (rūs). Compare Russ, Russian, Russie, Russniak, Rusyn, Ruthenian. Also compare Swedish Ryss, Dutch Rus, German Russe, French Russe, Byzantine Greek Ῥῶς (Rhôs), Russian Русь (Rusʹ), Belarusian Русь (Rusʹ), Ukrainian Русь (Rusʹ). Also compare Russian ру́сский (rússkij, “Ethnic Russian, of Rus”), россия́нин (rossijánin, “Russian national”), Росси́я (Rossíja, “Russia”). See further Etymology of Rus and derivatives.

Words formed from Rus

Phrases with Rus

Words that rhyme with Rus

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Rus

What does Rus mean?
Rus means a people made up of Scandinavian warrior merchants who travelled Eastern European river-roads from the eighth century, and whose settlements around Novgorod, Kiev/Kyiv and the Volga and Dnieper/Dnipro gave rise to the Rus' principalities.
What is Rus in Hindi?
Rus in Hindi is रूस (rūs). See Rus meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Rus?
Rus can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Rus?
Rus is pronounced /ɹuːs/.

Words near Rus in the dictionary

  1. rurp
  2. RURPs
  3. rursiradiate
  4. ruru
  5. rurus
  6. Rus
  7. rus in urbe
  8. Rus'
  9. Rus.
  10. rusa deer
  11. RUSADA

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Rus (page history and authors); RUS (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Rus.wav.

Cite this entry: “Rus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.