Chernobyl

See also: Chernóbyl

English

Alternative forms

• Chornobyl (Ukraine)

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tʃɜːˈnɒbəl/, /tʃɜːˈnəʊbəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɚˈnoʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒbəl, -əʊbəl

Proper noun

Chernobyl

1. A partially abandoned city and ghost town in northern Ukraine, known as the site of a nuclear disaster.
   • 1991 July 26, Brad Knickerbocker, “Think Tank on the Efficient Energy Trail”, in Christian Science Monitor‎^[1]:

     A couple of oil shocks, a Chernobyl meltdown, and a Gulf War later, his basic message - the need to emphasize efficiency and renewable resources over oil and nuclear power - is still a minority view, […]

2. (by extension) The 1986 nuclear accident which resulted in the abandonment of the aforementioned city.

   After Chernobyl, very few nuclear power plants were built for years.

Usage notes

Ukrainians recommend the use of "Chornobyl" instead of "Chernobyl". The former name is the place's name in Ukrainian, while the latter, being from Russian, is seen as supportive of Russian nationalism.

Derived terms

• Chernobylian
• chernobylite (the mineral)
• Chernobylite (a person from Chernobyl)
• Chernobyl syndrome

Translations

city in Ukraine

• Arabic: تْشِيرْنُوبِيل m (tširnūbil)
• Armenian: Չեռնոբիլ (Čʻeṙnobil)
• Basque: Txernobyl
• Belarusian: Чарно́быль m (Čarnóbylʹ)
• Bengali: চেরনোবিল (cernōbil)
• Bulgarian: Черно́бил m (Černóbil)
• Catalan: Txernòbil
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 切爾諾貝利／切尔诺贝利 (zh) (Qiè'ěrnuòbèilì)

• Crimean Tatar: Çornobıl
• Czech: Černobyl (cs) m
• Danish: Tjernobyl
• Esperanto: Ĉernobilo
• Estonian: Tšornobõl
• Finnish: Tšernobyl (fi)
• French: Tchernobyl (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩერნობილი (černobili)
• German: Tschernobyl (de) n, Tschornobyl n
• Greek: Τσερνόμπιλ (el) n (Tsernómpil)
• Hebrew: צ׳רנוביל
• Hindi: चेरनोबिल (cernobil)
• Hungarian: Csernobil (hu)
• Italian: Černobyl' m
• Japanese: チョルノーブィリ (Chorunōbuiri), チェルノブイリ (Cherunobuiri)
• Korean: 체르노빌 (Chereunobil)
• Lithuanian: Černobylis (lt)
• Macedonian: Че́рнобил m (Čérnobil)
• Marathi: चेरनोबिल (cernobil)
• Norwegian: Tsjernobyl
• Norwegian Nynorsk: Tsjernobyl
• Polish: Czarnobyl (pl) m
• Portuguese: Chernobyl m, Chernobil m, Tchernóbil
• Russian: Черно́быль (ru) m (Černóbylʹ)
• Samogitian: Černuobīlis
• Serbo-Croatian: Чернобиљ m, Чернобил m, Černobilj m, Černobil m
• Slovak: Černobyľ m
• Slovene: Černobil m
• Spanish: Chernóbyl m, Chernóbil (es)
• Swedish: Tjernobyl (sv)
• Turkish: Çernobil
• Ukrainian: Чорно́биль (uk) m (Čornóbylʹ)
• Uyghur: چېرنوبىل (chërnobil)
• Yiddish: טשערנאָבל (tshernobl)

Noun

Chernobyl (plural Chernobyls)

1. (by extension) A major nuclear-energy accident.
   • 1994 August, “Nuclear chaos”, in Popular Science, volume 245, number 2, page 54:

     Many secret cities were Chernobyls in slow motion.

   • 1999 May 6, Terence Scully, “When cell phones kill our brain waves, we will worry less”, in The Record (Kitchener, Ont.):

     The effects of a Chernobyl disaster in my community would probably be barely noticeable.

   • 2007 September 7, “Imagining a World Without Humans”, in NPR_TalkNation:

     So those would be a lot of Chernobyls that the ecosystem would have to deal with.

   • 2010 March 10, Ben Garcia, “Many Kuwaitis yet to be convinced on nuke energy”, in Kuwait Times:

     It has to be handled properly with great accuracy and no room for mistakes, because if we do have like a Chernobyl catastrophe, God forbid, it could wipe out our entire people.

See also

• Bhopal
• Fukushima
• Hiroshima

Italian

Alternative forms

• Cernobyl

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛr.no.bil/, /t͡ʃer.noˈbil/
• Rhymes: -ɛrnobil, -il

Proper noun

Chernobyl ?

1. Chernobyl (an abandoned city in Kiev Oblast, Ukraine, site of a major 1986 nuclear accident)

Portuguese

Proper noun

Chernobyl f

1. Alternative spelling of Chernobil