Chernobyl

• Chornobyl (as transliterated from Ukrainian)

From Russian Черно́быль (Černóbylʹ), from черно́быль (černóbylʹ, “mugwort”). Compare Ukrainian Чорнобиль (Čornóbyl’), from чорнобиль (čornóbýl’, “mugwort”), from чорне (čórne, “black”, neuter) + билля (bylljá, “grass blades or stalks”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʃə(ɹ)ˈnɒbəl/, /tʃə(ɹ)ˈnɒbəl/, /ˌtʃɜː(ɹ)ˈnɒbəl/, /ˌtʃɜː(ɹ)ˈnɒbəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʃɚˈnoʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒbəl, -əʊbəl

Chernobyl

1. An abandoned city in northern Ukraine, known as the site of a nuclear accident.
   • 1991 July 26, “Think Tank on the Efficient Energy Trail”, in Christian Science Monitor:

     A couple of oil shocks, a Chernobyl meltdown, and a Gulf War later, his basic message – the need to emphasize efficiency and renewable resources over oil and nuclear power – is still a minority view

• Chernobyl syndrome
• chernobylite

Chernobyl (plural Chernobyls)

1. (by extension) A major nuclear-energy accident.
   • 1994 August, “Nuclear chaos”, in Popular Science, volume 245, number 2, page 54:

     Many secret cities were Chernobyls in slow motion.

   • 1999 May 6, Terence Scully, “When cell phones kill our brain waves, we will worry less”, in The Record (Kitchener, Ont.):

     The effects of a Chernobyl disaster in my community would probably be barely noticeable.

   • 2007 September 7, “Imagining a World Without Humans”, in NPR_TalkNation:

     So those would be a lot of Chernobyls that the ecosystem would have to deal with.

   • 2010 March 10, Ben Garcia, “Many Kuwaitis yet to be convinced on nuke energy”, in Kuwait Times:

     It has to be handled properly with great accuracy and no room for mistakes, because if we do have like a Chernobyl catastrophe, God forbid, it could wipe out our entire people.

• Chernobyl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Srebrenica, Vietnam

Chernobyl f

1. Alternative spelling of Chernobil