What does borsht mean?
Borsht is a distinctive sour soup of Eastern European origin, best known for its brilliant ruby-red colour derived from beetroot. The classic version combines beets with cabbage, potatoes, onions, and often meat, finished with vinegar or other souring agents to give the soup its characteristic tang, and it is traditionally served with a dollop of sour cream. While beet borsht is the most famous form, the term also covers sour soups made from sorrel, cabbage, or other ingredients across Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and neighbouring countries. In English, the word appears both in cookery writing and in cultural contexts, often evoking family tradition, comfort food, and Eastern European heritage. Chilled borsht is popular in summer, while hot borsht is a warming winter staple. The spelling "borscht" is more common in American English, but both forms denote the same beloved dish.
nounA sour soup of Eastern European origin, made typically with beets as its defining ingredient, giving it a deep crimson colour and a sweet-and-sour flavour; often served hot with sour cream.
- A beetroot-based sour soup characteristic of Eastern European cuisine, especially Ukrainian and Russian cooking.
- (Broader sense) Any of various sour soups of Eastern European origin, including non-beet versions such as sorrel or cabbage borsht.
"On the first cold evening of autumn, she ladled out steaming bowls of borsht topped with a swirl of sour cream."
"The deli served a chilled borsht in summer and a hearty hot one in winter."
"Her grandmother's recipe for borsht called for simmering the beets with a splash of vinegar for extra tang."
Rarely used; the word normally functions as a mass noun referring to the soup in general rather than to countable servings.
"The cookbook compared several regional borshts, each with its own balance of sweetness and sourness."
This vivid red soup was once made from a weed — the plant that gave borsht its name was common hogweed, long before beets took over the pot.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of borsht
The word "borsht" entered English in the nineteenth century from Russian borshch (Ukrainian borshch), which itself derives from an older Slavic word originally referring to common hogweed (Heracleum), a plant whose fermented stalks and leaves were used to make sour soups before beets became the standard base. English adopted the term through both Russian sources and Yiddish, which accounts for the competing spellings "borsht" and "borscht". Both spellings remain current, referring to the same dish.
How borsht is actually used
Both spellings, "borsht" and "borscht", refer to exactly the same dish; "borscht" (reflecting Yiddish) is more widespread in American English, while "borsht" is a common simplified variant. The plural is rarely used since the word usually appears as a mass noun for the soup itself.
Easily confused with borsht
"Borscht" is simply the more common spelling of the very same soup, borrowed via Yiddish, while "borsht" is an alternate spelling of the identical word.