The Brothers Karamazov: 40 words to know before you read it
The 40 words Fyodor Dostoevsky uses again and again in The Brothers Karamazov that are outside the 4,000 most common in English. Learn them first and the opening chapters read much more easily. Each comes with its pronunciation and a sentence from the book.
elder/ˈɛɫdɝ/226× in the book
At her death almost exactly the same thing happened to the two little boys as to their elder brother, Mitya.
monk/ˈməŋk/175× in the book
In the evening of the same day he got drunk and abused the monks to Alyosha.
till/ˈtɪɫ/153× in the book
… and so that all be spent on them exclusively, with the condition that it be so portioned out as to last till they are twenty-one, for it is more than adequate provision for such children.
peasant/ˈpɛzənt/148× in the book
… kept in terror from her childhood, fell into that kind of nervous disease which is most frequently found in peasant women who are said to be “possessed by devils.”
afterwards/ˈæftɝwɝdz/143× in the book
He lived for many years afterwards abroad, but was at that time quite a young man …
monastery/ˈmɑnəˌstɛɹi/132× in the book
His splendid estate lay on the outskirts of our little town and bordered on the lands of our famous monastery, with which Pyotr Alexandrovitch began an endless lawsuit …
scoundrel/ˈskaʊndɹəɫ/89× in the book
An attractive theory for scoundrels!
exclaim/ɪkˈskɫeɪm/88× in the book
exclaimed Dmitri furiously.
devil/ˈdɛvəɫ/87× in the book
It’s impossible, I think, for the devils to forget to drag me down to hell with their hooks when I die.
ashamed/əˈʃeɪmd/82× in the book
… and he seemed to be expecting something, ashamed about something, while his brother Ivan …
spite/ˈspaɪt/80× in the book
… that Fyodor Pavlovitch, in spite of his parasitic position, was one of the bold and ironical spirits of that progressive epoch …
contrary/ˈkɑntɹɛɹi/78× in the book
… but not from shyness or a sullen unsociability; quite the contrary, from something different …
haste/ˈheɪst/76× in the book
… but as the latter had no family of his own, and after securing the revenues of his estates was in haste to return at once to Paris, he left the boy in charge of one of his cousins …
mutter/ˈmətɝ/74× in the book
Miüsov had time to mutter again.
bless/ˈbɫɛs/74× in the book
… as it were, all over when the elder came out to the gates of the hermitage into the waiting crowd of pilgrims of the humbler class who had flocked from all parts of Russia on purpose to see the elder and obtain his blessing.
insult/ˈɪnˌsəɫt/73× in the book
She was still alive, and had not, all those eight years, forgotten the insult done her.
fond/ˈfɑnd/73× in the book
He had known Proudhon and Bakunin personally, and in his declining years was very fond of describing the three days of the Paris Revolution of February 1848, hinting that he himself had almost taken part in the fighting on the barricades.
delight/dɪˈɫaɪt/71× in the book
“That I certainly will, without fail,” cried Fyodor Pavlovitch, hugely delighted at the invitation.
sofa/ˈsoʊfə/71× in the book
Father Zossima sat down on a very old-fashioned mahogany sofa, covered with leather …
weep/ˈwip/70× in the book
He understood it, but that the elder Zossima was this saint and custodian of God’s truth —of that he had no more doubt than the weeping peasants and the sick women who held out their children to the elder.
murderer/ˈmɝdɝɝ/66× in the book
I, a thief and murderer, am the only true Christian Church.’
tremble/ˈtɹɛmbəɫ/65× in the book
He trembled for him, for his glory, and dreaded any affront to him, especially the refined, courteous irony of Miüsov and the supercilious half-utterances of the highly educated Ivan.
positively/ˈpɑzətɪvɫi/64× in the book
… the young man had an unmistakable influence over his father, who positively appeared to be behaving more decently and even seemed at times ready to obey his son, though often extremely and even spitefully perverse.
fancy/ˈfænsi/64× in the book
What gave the marriage piquancy was that it was preceded by an elopement, and this greatly captivated Adelaïda Ivanovna’s fancy.
utter/ˈətɝ/63× in the book
… slipped to the floor, tried to hide himself without uttering one word of abuse, enduring their insults in silence.
clever/ˈkɫɛvɝ/62× in the book
This habit, however, is characteristic of a very great number of people, some of them very clever ones, not like Fyodor Pavlovitch.
conscience/ˈkɑnʃəns/62× in the book
… that he had acquired the keenest intuition and could tell from an unknown face what a newcomer wanted, and what was the suffering on his conscience.
fool/ˈfuɫ/62× in the book
But, if you begin to play the fool I don’t intend to be associated with you here.
instant/ˈɪnstənt/61× in the book
The strange and instant healing of the frantic and struggling woman as soon as she was led up to the holy sacrament, which had been explained to me as due to malingering and the trickery of the “clericals,” arose probably in the most natural manner.
mamma/ˈmɑmə/60× in the book
“I told mamma you’d be sure not to go.
frighten/ˈfɹaɪtən/59× in the book
… to accept everything without the least condemnation though often grieving bitterly: and this was so much so that no one could surprise or frighten him even in his earliest youth.
ruin/ˈɹuən/59× in the book
And would you believe it, it ruined our business!
nonsense/ˈnɑnsɛns/57× in the book
An outer show elaborated through centuries, and nothing but charlatanism and nonsense underneath,” flashed through Miüsov’s mind.
unhappy/ənˈhæpi/56× in the book
In the end this unhappy young woman, kept in terror from her childhood …
tavern/ˈtævɝn/55× in the book
In a short time he opened a great number of new taverns in the district.
aloud/əˈɫaʊd/54× in the book
All that time she was obtaining exact information as to her Sofya’s manner of life, and hearing of her illness and hideous surroundings she declared aloud two or three times to her retainers: “It serves her right.
jealous/ˈdʒɛɫəs/52× in the book
… You wanted to put me in prison because you are jealous of me with her, because you’d begun to force your attentions upon her …
coffin/ˈkɔfɪn/52× in the book
Fyodor Pavlovitch could not show him where his second wife was buried, for he had never visited her grave since he had thrown earth upon her coffin, and in the course of years had entirely forgotten where she was buried.
bow/ˈbaʊ/52× in the book
He only listened to Grigory’s minute and solemn account of the erection of the tomb; he stood with bowed head and walked away without uttering a word.
inquire/ˌɪnˈkwaɪɹ/50× in the book
She did inquire about him, but she did not know the proper place to inquire.
Pronunciation: ipa-dict (MIT), from Wiktionary.
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