1. Whore, slut, bitch, woman of light virtue, promiscuous woman. Historically the noun means “lie, heresy, mistake” (and блѧдь can be found with this meaning in religious literature), and by extension a lost woman; 2. Insult used to describe someone as having the attribute of a woman as mentioned in point 1; 3. Commonly used as an expletive, to emphasise one’s point. The most common derived euphemism is блин, which means “pancake” (compare with the English expletives “shit” and “shoot”): Ну вы, блин, даёте.
The word is sometimes shortened to its initial Б (Она настоящая б — she’s a real b***), in rare occasion it is represented by Ѣ (ять, Cyrillic letter that disappeared in 1918) because of the similar sound of the letter’s name and блядь (due to technical restrictions and ignorance Ъ can sometimes be found as a substitute for Ѣ). Because of the familiar sounding lyrics the Palestinian song „بلادي بلادي“ (Blādi, blādi — Motherland, motherland) became a hit on the Internet, along with Russian spoof subtitles.
Весёлый вечер в жизни нашей
Запомним, юные друзья;
Шампанского в стеклянной чаше
Шипела хла́дная струя.
Мы пили — и Венера с нами
Сидела, прея за столом.
Когда ж вновь сядем вчетвером
С блядьми́, вином и чубуками?
We drank — and Venus sat with us,
Dozing at the table.
When will we sit together again, the four of us,
With sluts, wine, and hookahs?
(Александр Пушкин, 27/05/1819)
А в клубе модном — все для народа:
Заливши фары, танцуют пары,
Винилы крутит здесь диск-жокэй
И нет отбою от блядей.
And in the trendy club — everything for the people:
With headlights dimmed, couples dance,
Here the DJ spins vinyl records,
And there’s no end to the sluts.
(Ленинград, В клубе модном, 2001)
Пессимисты думают, что все женщины — бляди, оптимисты на это надеются.
Pessimists think all women are sluts, optimists hope for it.
Брощу пить, курить и материться… Блядь! Сигарета в вино упала!..
I stop drinking, smoking and swearing… Damn, my fag fell in the wine!..
