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Recently the respected user @SergeySlepov suggested that the dish for soup is тарелка or миска, not чашка. His suggestion came as a reaction to my expression чашка супу.

I have always been confused as to what the precise definitions of тарелка, миска, чашка, блюдце, кружка, стакан, бокал and so on are, and I am unsure how to correctly call even everyday dishes in Russian. I feel like I do not understand even the most basic things.

I would like to show you a few photos of most standard dishes and ask you how you call them in Russian. Hopefully your answers will make me more confident in choosing Russian words for dishes and help me understand the concepts of тарелка, миска, чашка and so on.

(1) Please kindly have a look at this photo. How do you call the dishes shown in the photo - the ones for soup and rice, the one for fish, and the one for berries? Are the dishes for soup and rice called чашка, тарелка, or миска? Is the rectangular dish for fish called блюдце or тарелка? Is the dish for berries called блюдце or чашка?

(2) Please now have a look at this photo. What is the Russian name for these rectangular boxes - поднос, коробка, or what? And please have a look at the round dish in the upper left corner of the photo. How is this dish called in Russian? Тарелка, блюдце, миска, чашка, or how?

(3) Now this photo. How do you call this red dish, the one whereon you see sushi?

(4) Now this photo. How do you call these wooden sticks whereon the chicken pieces are nailed?

(5) Now this photo. How is the big glass called? Графин or бутылка? And how are the small glasses called?

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  • Please tend to ask one question per post. This is on the brink of being off-top. You basically shoving in N photos and asking to label all of them.
    – shabunc
    May 3, 2019 at 10:57
  • I believe the original comment was more of a cultural difference. While there is advertisement of Knorr's cups of soup (like this - smak72.ru/wa-data/public/shop/products/56/21/2156/images/258/…) which are, as you can see, чашка супа, it is extremely unusual for Russians to use cups for soup not deep dishes (somewhat like your first photo but bigger).
    – Viridianus
    May 4, 2019 at 11:07

3 Answers 3

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My takes

(1)
А) soup and rice - пиАлки/лы (why not миски - because миска is associated with metal or plastic);
B) fish - блюдо (but there might be a specialized term for a rectangular one);
C) berries - i'd call it чашечка.

(2)
А) rectangular boxes - i'd label them корОбки/кОробы (sing. короб), it's an unusual term for cooked food containers, but since they're not typical to Russian cuisine, standard widely used term may not be in existence, or alternatively - контЕйнеры;
B) round dish in the upper left corner - i'd call it блюдо на подставке/ножке.

(3) either блюдо or поднос, the latter is possible because if i'm not mistaken sushi isn't placed directly thereon.

(4) деревянные шампурЫ, the specification of material is desirable here because conventional шампуры (sing. шампУр) are metal, or шпАжки (sing. шпажка diminutive of шпага).

(5)
A) the big glass - графин;
B) the small glasses - бокАлы (sing. бокал) or фужЕры (sing. фужер).

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    but there might be a specialized term for a rectangular one - probably, селёдочница? genskie-nogki.ru/hostess/home/type_of_dinnerware.php May 2, 2019 at 21:04
  • @Arhad yeah, that could fit i guess, i myself am used to the oblong one, just like on the picture, but it's probably not mandatory May 2, 2019 at 21:10
  • The small one for the berries might be called розетка: livemaster.ru/item/15719893-posuda-farforovaya-rozetka-yagody May 2, 2019 at 21:33
  • @Sergey Slepov i've always knew that розетка is more or less a synonym of блюдце, which i think is what depicted on all the pictures there, the only differing ware item is чашка which isn't relevant to the description May 2, 2019 at 21:53
  • @БаянКупи-ка I can't agree with you about "миска is associated with metal or plastic". It might be region-dependent, but for me миска is deeper than тарелка and doesn't have a brim (though there is a grey area of things that can be called both миска and тарелка)
    – Alissa
    May 6, 2019 at 14:58
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There are some general types of dishware and some specific ones (with special names), but usually specific ones still fall into some general type, so I will mention some specific ones, but definitely not all of them. And there are lots of cases when you wouldn't be able to tell two types apart for sure. It's OK, since sometimes we have to deal with strange things that designers create, and sometimes there is something from another culture that breaks the system, and so on.

Here's list of some common names:

  • тарелка is a flat plate used for main-course, usually 20 to 30 cm in diameter. There is also суповая тарелка or глубокая тарелка (adjective can be omitted) which is not so flat, but it should have flat parts on the top. So if you're looking at its side, it looks like this: –,___,–

  • блюдце is a smaller plate used for deserts, sandwiches, etc. блюдце is also put under a teacup or a coffee cup, it would then have design similar or complementary to the cup.

  • розетка is even smaller than блюдце, but may be deeper (getting close to proportions of миска) and is used for jam or honey

  • блюдо is a big plate (40+ cm I think) used to serve dishes for several people (a cake, a whole bird, a big fish, appetizers, etc.)

Any of those can be round, square, hexagonal, etc. Name would depend on size and purpose.

  • миска is deep and is mostly used for soup (should look like this: |__| or like this: \__/). If it's for soup, it's almost never чашка, with an exception of bouillon cup, but it should have ear-like handle (or two) and look like this c|__|, then it's чашка для бульона or бульонная чашка, but you can still call it миска.

    салатник or салатная миска is same as миска, but bigger, and can be still called миска.

Difference between миска and тарелка is that тарелка is wider and shallower, but to establish an exact boundary is sometimes difficult. I'd say that if it has a brim, then it's probably тарелка, and if its height is half or more of its width it's probably миска.

  • чашка is a cup for drinking (usually for tea or coffee) and should have at least one handle, it's narrower and higer than миска or чашка для бульона. Looks like this: с|_| or like this: c\_/

  • кружка is basically the same as чашка, but bigger. I think, originally it was for mostly used for beer, but nowadays there are smaller ones (300-400 ml, not 500) and lots of people use those for coffee, tea and any other soft drinks.

Again, there is some gray area between чашка and кружка. I'd say that if it's less than 300 ml, it's чашка and otherwise it's кружка

  • стакан is a handless vessel, usually made of glass (almost same as glass in English). This category contains old-fashioned, rocks, highball and pilsner glasses (maybe more, these are what I'm aware of). Note that it can have different height and height-to-width ratio, but стакан never has a handle or a leg.

  • бокал is a glass on a leg (e.g. wine glass, hurricane glass, martini glass, etc.)

Two more glasses are рюмка and стопка. In my understanding they are same as бокал and стакан (respectively), but smaller (for shots).

  • бутылка is a glass or plastic bottle that liquids are sold in, it usually has a narrow neck (you can't put your hand inside). If you can, than it's банка, and if it's more than 3 liters, it's usually канистра. Except for huge bottles of whiskey or other beverage if they are mimicking smaller ones. All three of these have secure lids.

  • графин is a fancy glass bottle, usually with a not secure lid, or without any lid at all. There are also things like декантер (to let wine breathe) or штоф (not sure what exactly is the difference).

  • кувшин is bigger than графин, has wider neck, and usually has a handle.

  • поднос is a flat thing that you put plates on (in fast food places, or to bring to other room).

    коробка is a box. It usually has a lid, but usually it's not secure

  • контейнер is a box for storaging food. It usually has a secure lid

Now to your photos:

(1) Please kindly have a look at this photo. How do you call the dishes shown in the photo - the ones for soup and rice, the one for fish, and the one for berries?

Ones for soup and rice are definitely миска, one for fish is тарелка and one for berries is either мисочка (little bowl) or розетка. I'd use the latter.

(2) Please now have a look at this photo. What is the Russian name for these rectangular boxes - поднос, коробка, or what? And please have a look at the round dish in the upper left corner of the photo. How is this dish called in Russian?

Rectangular boxes don't have an official name in Russian. I would probably call it поднос even though you usually put plates with food on поднос and not food itself. If these actually are bento boxes (that have lids and are designed to carry around), then you could say it's коробка or контейнер. Round dish at the corner also falls into gray area somewhere between миска and тарелка. I'd say it's closer to тарелка as it doesn't look very deep.

(3) Now this photo. How do you call this red dish, the one whereon you see sushi?

That is тарелка. You might call it блюдо if it's set of sushi for a company, but even in this case, тарелка is also OK, as it doesn't look that big.

(4) Now this photo. How do you call these wooden sticks whereon the chicken pieces are nailed?

These are деревянные шампуры, adjective can be omitted. For smallers sticks that hold olives or other snacks there is word шпажки (derived from шпага which is a rapier).

(5) Now this photo. How is the big glass called? Графин or бутылка? And how are the small glasses called?

Big glass is definitely графин. Small glasses are either бокал or рюмка depending on the size, which is not exactly clear. Probably бокал

Note: The definitions I used seems to differ from formal definitions (e.g. wikipedia says that блюдце is thing to place a cup on, everything else is тарелка of different kind), but this is how the words are actually used in spoken language (at least around me). If you need more types of dishware or more formal definitions, you can start from exploring this category in Wikipedia.

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  • Thank you so much for such a detailed explanation. It was very interesting to read. You must be a passionate cook :) With your and @БаянКупи-ка 's answers I am confident I will never make a mistake like чашка супу again. I see some differences between your and his answers. For example, you call the dish for fish in Photo 1 тарелка, whilst he calls it блюдо. And you define блюдо as a big plate. It is interesting how native speakers give contradicting answers.
    – Mitsuko
    May 7, 2019 at 17:22
  • You also call the dish for berries розетка, whilst he calls it чашечка. Чашечка is a kind of чашка, and you define the latter as a cup with a handle. The dish for berries doesn't have a handle, so I see why you do not call it чашечка.
    – Mitsuko
    May 7, 2019 at 17:26
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    @Mitsuko >>It is interesting how native speakers give contradicting answers<< i guess in this particular case it's because for a number of items there's no standardized term in Russian so people end up labeling them according to their perception of what it looks like May 7, 2019 at 18:02
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Picture one:глубокие тарелки или миски с супом и рисом, тарелка для рыбы, салатничек с клубникой. Picture two:коробки/контейнеры, красная пиала.Then блюдо, шпажки, графин с бокалами

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  • Thanks a lot for your answer, it is especially helpful in view of some contradicting variants in the other answers. Given the three sets of data poiints, I am now practically certain how to choose Russian words for my everyday dishes without making serious mistakes.
    – Mitsuko
    May 7, 2019 at 17:45

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