Matryoshka

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /matɹɪˈɒʃkÉ™/

Origin

From Russian матрёшка, from personal name Матрёна, formerly Матрона, ultimately from Latin mātrōna ("matron").

Full definition of matryoshka

Noun

1. One of a set of wooden Russian dolls of different sizes, designed such that each fits inside the next. from 20th c.
• 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin 2012, p. 35:The past is not only a foreign country that we half knew existed; it is hiding another concealed country behind it, and behind that one, another, and another – like a set of Russian matryoshki, in which larger dolls conceal smaller.