# Kharkiv

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈxɑːkiːv/ · frequency rank #31,626

## Definitions
1. An industrial city, the administrative centre of Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, in eastern Ukraine.
2. A raion of Kharkiv Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Seat: Kharkiv.
3. An oblast in eastern Ukraine. Seat: Kharkiv.
4. A river in eastern Ukraine.
5. Ellipsis of 9167 Kharkiv: an asteroid in Asteroid Belt, Solar System.

## Etymology
From Ukrainian Ха́рків (Xárkiv), from Old Ruthenian Ха́рьковъ (Xárʹkov) (compare Russian Ха́рьков (Xárʹkov), whence English Kharkov). The city is named after the Kharkiv River. A folk etymology says the city and river are named after a Cossack called Харко́ (Xarkó), from Харько́ (Xarʹkó), from Greek Χαρίτων (Charíton), but there is no hard evidence supporting this.

## Easily confused with
- **khaki** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/khaki-vs-kharkiv)

## Common misspellings (11)
`hkarkiv`, `kahrkiv`, `khakriv`, `kharikv`, `kharkivv`, `kharkkiv`, `kharkvi`, `kharrkiv`, `khharkiv`, `khrakiv`, `kkharkiv`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/kharkiv