devotchka

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian де́вочка (dévočka, “girl”).

Noun

devotchka (plural devotchkas)

1. (rare) A girl, especially one of Russian descent.
   • 2011 [1962], Anthony Burgess, edited by Mark Rawlison, A Clockwork Orange, New York: W. W. Norton, →ISBN, page 115:

     This evening in the Korova there was a fair number of vecks and ptitsas and devotchkas and malchicks smecking and peeting away, and cutting through their govoreeting and the burbling of the in-the-landers with their 'Gorgor fallatuke and the worm sprays in filltip slaughterballs' and all that cal you could slooshy a popdisc on the stereo, this being Ned Achimota singing 'That Day, Yeah, That Day'.

   • 1984, Möeth Allison, Russian Roulette, →ISBN, page 115:

     His arm wrapped her shoulders, and he dropped a kiss on her head. "Come on, devotchka. I'm taking you home."

   • 2001, Dimitri Anastasopoulos, A Larger Sense of Harvey: A Novel, page 261:

     Meanwhile, three churlish mops stroke their cheeks at the top of the stairs as if to remind the first guest that they are truly the rosy-cheeked devotchkas of yore.

   • 2014, Paul Dowswell, Red Shadow, →ISBN, page 63:

     “Comrade Golovkin,” he said. “It is a terrible afternoon, devotchka. May I offer you a ride back to the Kremlin?”