vody

Vody is a word that appears in several Slavic languages to mean water or waters. It commonly functions as the plural form of water in languages such as Polish, Czech, and Russian, and is also used as a transliteration for the Cyrillic водЫ.

Etymology and cognates

The term derives from Proto-Slavic *voda, a root that has produced closely related words across Slavic languages. Variants include voda or vody in different languages, with the plural forms often appearing as vody or wody depending on the language’s spelling and phonology. The basic meaning remains water, though the plural form often conveys “waters,” bodies of water, or water in a general sense.

Usage in languages

In Russian and Ukrainian, водЫ (vody) is the plural nominative of вода (water) and can also represent the genitive singular in certain grammatical contexts. In Polish, wody is the nominative plural of woda (water) and is used to refer to bodies of water or to waters in a general sense, as in phrases describing rivers, seas, or mineral waters. In Czech and Slovak, voda means water, and vody is the plural form used for “waters.” In each language, the exact interpretation—singular, plural, or genitive—depends on grammatical context.

In toponymy and culture

Vody and its cognates appear in geographic names and place names within Slavic-speaking regions. The term is also encountered in environmental, hydrological, and literary contexts where water is a central theme.

See also

Water, list of water-related terms in Slavic languages, linguistic cognates.