What does “blin” mean in Russian?

Russians use this word all the time. For example, you may hear a phrase like this:

Блин, как же мне надоело мыть посуду!

Which actually means “I’m sick of doing dishes”.

But if you search the first word in a dictionary, you might be surprised because it’s actually… food! And it really is. Blin (блин) is a kind of pancake, just much thinner and larger.

This is how it looks like:

But when we use this word in everyday speaking (in informal situations only), this becomes just a kind of exclamation and can mean different things. Usually, this is an expression of anger or frustration. See some examples:

Блин, зачем ты мне это сказала? – Why did you told me that? (you didn’t have to – now I’m upset.)

Блин, ну выключи уже этот свет! – Turn off the light! (It’s reallly annoying, I’m tired of wating for you to finish all of your work.)

But actually it can be used in many other situations. Even when it doesn’t have to, haha.

Блин, я не знаю, что делать. – I don’t know what to do (I’m really confused.)

Вот блин! Я не знал, что ты придешь. – I didn’t know you would come. (I’m not prepared.)

Да блин, не надо так делать. – You shouldn’t do it.

Я говорил ей, но, блин, она никогда не слушает. – I told her, but she never listens.

There are many jokes where we imagine that in all of the situations (like ones below) the word блин is used in its literal meaning.

For example:

The person in the comment is trying to mock someone, saying: “Блин, на твой день рождения никто не придет” (No one will come to your birthday party). Blin is only used to expresses a strong emotion here. But the joke is that if we translate this sentence literally, it looks like we’re adressing this phrase to blin (food) itself. And this way we make it angry. He argues: “It’s not true! I have many friends!”

Here are some more memes:

 

 

Hope it’s clear now. If you have some questions, leave a comment. I’ll try to answer you as soon as possible.