Khokhol, also khakhol [хохол; xoxol; хахол; xaxol]. A derogatory Russian term for Ukrainians. Khokhol literally means a sheaf or tuft of cereal stalks and is derived from an old Slavic word. As a term used to describe Ukrainians, it may have originally referred to the customary tufts of hair worn by the Cossacks, called oseledtsi. The term first appeared in the Muscovite written sources in the early 1600s, initially referring to Catholics in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, people regarded as foreign in origin and faith. By the 1630s, khokhol (also khokhlach) was being applied to the Zaporozhian Cossacks in particular and to Ukrainians more broadly, alongside the more common term cherkasy. In Ukraine, the term was probably not viewed as derogatory until the early 18th century. Russians continued to use khokhol broadly for ethnic Ukrainians throughout the 19th century, when the term carried negative stereotypes, including cunning and silliness. Lexicographer and folklorist Vladimir Dal recorded it in Russian proverbs: ‘A khokhol is stupider than a crow, but more cunning than the devil’; ‘A khokhol won’t lie, and he won’t tell the truth either.’ Numerous examples of such usage could also be found in Russian literature. With similar negative connotations, Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky referred to Taras Shevchenko as a ‘khokhol (khakhlatskii) radical.’ In narrower sense, khokhol referred to Ukrainian peasants. According to the etymological principles of Russian orthography, the written term khokhol is pronounced as khakhol.

Although it was primarily used by Russians to denigrate Ukrainians, at times, especially in the 19th century, it was used by Ukrainians as a term of self-identification. For instance, Viktor Kochubei, Russia’s first minister of the interior and nephew of Oleksander Bezborodko, once admitted: ‘Although I was born a khokhol, I am more Russian than anybody else, owing to my principles, my social position, and my habits. My calling and the position I hold put me above all sorts of petty considerations. I look at the affairs of your province from the viewpoint of the common interest of our country. Microscopic views are not my concern.’ Similarly, writer Nikolai Gogol (Mykola Hohol) famously wondered whether his soul was ‘khokhlatskaia’, that is Ukrainian, or Russian. Anton Chekhov jokingly described himself as a khokhol: ‘But then again, if I weren’t a khokhol—if I wrote for at least two hours every day—I would already have a villa of my own. But I am a khokhol, I am lazy.’

In these contexts, the term khokhol has appeared in Ukrainian literature, mainly in historical literary works by such writers as Oleksander Dovzhenko (‘Eh, you, khokhol. You would only joke’) and Zinaida Tulub (‘Our khokhly always wear moustaches’). Dovzhenko also recalled that when, as a child, he asked whether they were Russians (‘My khiba ne rus'ki?’), his father replied: ‘No, we are not Russians... And who really knows? We are simple folk, son, khokhly, people who work the land. You might say we are just ordinary peasants (muzhyky).’ In the 20th century the term began to be used by Ukrainians as a scornful epithet for Russified Ukrainians. Only after the Revolution of 1917 did most Ukrainians in Russian-ruled Ukraine began identifying as Ukrainians rather than as khokhly, Little Russians, or South Russians. Russians continue to use khokhol widely for Ukrainians. Its originally neutral, humorous, or familiar connotations have increasingly given way to radically xenophobic, anti-Ukrainian usage since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Other derogatory terms for Ukrainians have also emerged, including ukry and ukropy, the latter referring to the dill plant.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Floria, Boris. ‘Kto takoi “khokhol,”’ Rodina, no. 8 (1999)
Nakonechnyi, Ievhen. Ukradene im’ia. Chomu rusyny staly ukraїntsiamy 4th ed. (Kyiv 2013)

Serhiy Bilenky

[This article was updated in 2026.]