zek
A prisoner at a Russian prison, especially (historical) at a Soviet labour camp.
Noun
- A prisoner at a Russian prison, especially (historical) at a Soviet labour camp.
- Every prisoner who recants is a potential influence on other zeks to do likewise. - 1988, Natan Sharansky, translated by Stefani Hoffman, Fear No Evil, page 235:
- There are the zeks, the survivors of the gulags, some honest about their experiences, others still deluded or traumatised decades later. - 2004 February 8, Jason Burke, The Observer:
Origin
From Russian зэ́к (zɛ́k), probably representing a pronunciation of з/к (z/k), Soviet abbreviation of заключённый каналоармеец (zaključónnyj kanaloarmejec, “prisoner member of the [White Sea–Baltic] Canal army”).