Kolkhozy

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kəlˈkɒzɪ/

Definitions

1. A type of collective farm in the former Soviet Union where agricultural production and profits were shared among members
2. Referring to a cooperative farming society that was state-operated, emphasizing collective governance and distribution
3. Denoting a system of rural labor where farmers would pool resources and labor under state guidance for agricultural production

Etymology: "Kolkhozy" is simply the plural of "kolkhoz", a Russian word for a collective farm. The singular is a contraction of "kollektivnoye khozyaystvo", which means "collective household" or "collective farm", so the word packs the whole idea into two shortened parts: "kolkhoz" from the first syllables of "kollektivnoye" and "khozyaystvo". The Soviet state adopted the term as it collectivised agriculture, and it became the standard name for these pooled farms across the Soviet Union. Because the word came into English through Russian and was used mainly in discussions of Soviet policy, English speakers usually meet it in its plural form when writing about the system as a whole.

Synonyms: collective farms