Standard Lemma guide

sputnik

name · noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspʊtnɪk/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈspʌtnɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S P AH1 T N IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A village in Pechengsky District, Murmansk Oblast, Russia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of a series of Soviet robotic space satellites, especially the first one in 1957.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any artificial satellite.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The currency sign ¤.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: slang

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19, developed in Russia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Sputnik V

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

Alternative letter-case form of sputnik.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

a Russian artificial satellite

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: satellite, artificial satellite, orbiter

History

Etymology

See sputnik. The vaccine sense is an ellipsis of Sputnik V, from Russian Спутник V (Sputnik V), a trade name given after Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- Proto-Balto-Slavic *san? Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm? Proto-Slavic *sъ(n) Russian с- (s-) Proto-Indo-European *pent- Proto-Indo-European *póntoh1s Proto-Balto-Slavic *pántis Proto-Slavic *pǫtь Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Balto-Slavic *-inas Proto-Slavic *-ьnъ Proto-Indo-European *-eykos Proto-Balto-Slavic *-eikas Proto-Slavic *-ikъ Proto-Slavic *-ьnikъ Proto-Slavic *pǫtьnikъ Russian пу́тник (pútnik) Russian спу́тник (spútnik)bor. English sputnik From Russian спу́тник (spútnik, “satellite”, literally “fellow traveller”), from с- (s-, “with, together”) + пу́тник (pútnik, “traveller”), from путь (putʹ, “way, journey”) + agent suffix -ник (-nik).

Across languages

Translations

81 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Amharic: ስፐትኒክ (səpätnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Arabic: سْبُوتْنِيك (sbūtnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Arabic: سْبُوتْنِيك (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Armenian: սպուտնիկ (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Azerbaijani: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Bashkir: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Belarusian: спадаро́жнік (spadaróžnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Belarusian: спу́тнік (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Bengali: স্পুতনিক (sputonik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Bulgarian: спъ́тник (spǎ́tnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Bulgarian: спу́тник (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Burmese: စပွတ်နစ် (ca.pwatnac) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Chinese Cantonese: 史撥尼克 /史拨尼克 (si2 but6 nei4 hak1) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Chinese Mandarin: 斯普特尼克 (sīpǔtèníkè) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人造地球衛星 /人造地球卫星 (rénzào dìqiú wèixīng) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Czech: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Danish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Dutch: spoetnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Esperanto: sputniko — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Estonian: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Finnish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • French: spoutnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Galician: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Georgian: სპუტნიკი (sṗuṭniḳi) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • German: Sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Greek: σπούτνικ (spoútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Hebrew: סְפּוּטְנִיק (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Hindi: स्पुटनिक (spuṭnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Hindi: स्पुतनिक (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Hungarian: szputnyik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Icelandic: spútnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Indonesian: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Japanese: スプートニク (supūtoniku) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Kannada: ಸ್ಪುಟ್ನಿಕ್ (spuṭnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Kazakh: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Khmer: ស្ពុតនីក (sputniik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Korean: 스푸트니크 (seuputeunikeu) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Northern Kurdish: spûtnîk — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Kyrgyz: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Latvian: sputņiks — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Lithuanian: sputnikas — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Macedonian: спу́тник (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Malay: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Malayalam: സ്പുട്നിക് (spuṭnikŭ) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Mongolian: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Pashto: سپوتنیک (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Persian: سپوتنیک (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Persian: اسپوتنیک (esputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Polish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Polish: satelita — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Polish: sztuczny satelita — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Portuguese: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Portuguese: esputinique — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Russian: спу́тник (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Russian: иску́сственный спу́тник (iskússtvennyj spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Serbo-Croatian: спутњик — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Serbo-Croatian: sputnjik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Sinhalese: ස්පුට්නික් (spuṭnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Slovak: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Slovene: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Spanish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Swedish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Tagalog: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Tajik: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Tamil: ஸ்புட்னிக் (spuṭṉik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Tatar: спутник (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Telugu: స్పుత్నిక్ (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Thai: สปุตนิก (sà-bpút-nìk) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Turkish: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Turkmen: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Ukrainian: супу́тник (supútnyk) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Ukrainian: спу́тнік (spútnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Urdu: سپوتنک (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Urdu: اسپتنک (isputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Uyghur: سپۇتنىك (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Uzbek: sputnik — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Vietnamese: vệ tinh nhân tạo — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Vietnamese: xpút-nhích — a Soviet robotic space satellite
  • Yiddish: ספּוטניק (sputnik) — a Soviet robotic space satellite