khutor

Khutor is a term used in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus to refer to a type of rural locality that centers on a single homestead or a small farmstead with its own land. In contrast to a village (selo), a khutor is typically dispersed and may consist of one or a few households rather than an organized collective settlement.

Historically, khutors appeared as peasant households separated from the communal landholding system of obshchina. They became prominent during the late Imperial period; the Stolypin agrarian reforms allowed peasants to consolidate land into private homesteads and encouraged moving away from common fields into khutors to foster productivity and social differentiation.

Today, the term remains a formal designation in several countries, though many khutors have been absorbed into larger rural municipalities or transformed into small settlements under different administrative categories. They are usually agricultural in function, with dispersed house plots, outbuildings, and limited population.

Etymology: from Old East Slavic khutor meaning farmstead; translations include hamlet or farmstead, and it's distinct from stanitsa (Cossack village) and from selo (village).