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The Wiktionary entry says it means "even", but the English word "even" has many different definitions. I presume the Wiktionary translation is saying that it has the adverb-emphasizer meaning, as in "He hadn't even started to run." or "Do you even understand?". Is this correct? Are there other meanings/translations of даже?

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  • Do you even understand? into Russian isn't translated with даже, because it's an interrogative sentence, in the other, positive, sentence their use in both languages is identical
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Aug 22, 2019 at 6:39
  • Have you ever tried to use dictionaries which are better than Wiktionary? For example, multitran.com or OpenRussian.org.
    – Yellow Sky
    Aug 22, 2019 at 6:58
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    @YellowSky I actually hadn't because up till now Wiktionary had seemed superior. Thanks for those suggestions, they seem great!
    – Arturo don Juan
    Aug 24, 2019 at 0:13

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It is actually not that easy to discuss such things as meanings/translations/definitions because 1) these three terms mean very different things; 2) people tend to confuse them in all possible sorts of ways.

One of the respected Russian vocabularies gives the following definitions to ДАЖЕ (but this is all in Russian, of course):

ДАЖЕ

1. частица. Употр. при сообщении о том, что противоречит ожидаемому, осуществляется вопреки ему. Шум не смолкает д. ночью. Все притихли, д. дети. Очаровательна д. без всяких украшений.

  1. частица. Употр. при сообщении о том, что осуждается как противоречащее узусу. Д. матери грубит. Обидит д. ребенка. Не подаст д. куска хлеба.

  2. частица. Употр. для выделения той части сообщения, к-рая его подтверждает, приводя дополнительные аргументы или еще более вескую информацию. Умен, д. талантлив. Холодно, д., кажется, снег идет. Мила, д. красива.

  3. частица. Употр. для выражения неожиданности и интенсивности того действия, о к-ром сообщается. Д. заплакал ото радости. Обиделась, д. слушать не хочет.

  4. союз. Присоединяет предложение или член предложения со знач. уточнения, добавления. Ветер сильный, д. провода гудят.

A simplified explanation that covers most typical patterns of usage (meanings) may look something along these lines (Source):

так испугался, даже вскрикнул I was so frightened, I even screamed

даже я согласился even I agreed

Translations, though, is a completely different beast. And is just too large a topic, so I simply won't go into this as this would require a hell of a lot of time. Suffice to say, as an example, that your "He hadn't even started to run." would be translated with the use of даже, while the "Do you even understand?" will be Ты хотя бы понимаешь?/ Да ты хоть понимаешь? (or similar, depends on the context).

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The word "даже" means that an unexpected, controversial event has occured.

"John hates popular music, but even he liked the latest Rihanna's single"

"Джон ненавидит поп-музыку, но даже ему понравился последний сингл Рианны"

"There was a military parade in the downtown. The orchestra played so loud, I could hear the music even outside of the city"

"В центре прошёл военный парад. Оркестр играл так громко, что я слышал музыку даже за пределами города"

So, the word "даже" is similar only to this meaning of 'even".

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    This is only one of its meanings, listed under 4. in my answer. There are others, so your first sentence is not quite correct (too restrictive).
    – tum_
    Aug 22, 2019 at 9:09

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