Vocabulary ladder
War and Peace
Book One, XIV
1,563 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 62% of the text; the hard 7% is 52 entries — all of them below.
A 61.7% (309 types) B 4.2% (53 types) C 3.3% (35 entries) D 1.0% (13 entries) E 0.3% (5 entries) N 6.2% (34 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 53 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- unpleasant ×4
- endured
- carriage
- distinguishes
- interfere
- nursery
- nickname
- cab
- porter
- behaves · behaving ×2
- paused
- ceased
- dipping
- ashamed ×2
- shouted
- penny
- tremendous
- gently
- widow
- lawsuit ×2
- selfish
- dining
- stake
- ours
Band C — recognition checklist
All 35 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- godson
- easygoing
- unmove
- ruble
- calmer
- stinging
- tiresome
- enthusiastically
- linger
- affectionate
- cadet
- ponder
- wretched
- nearer
- bestow
- overflow
- godfather
- dine
- equip
- flirt
- countess
- humiliation
- congratulate
- evidently
- irritating
- remark
- astonishing
- scarf
- theatrical
- diplomat
- eld
- flock
- vogue
- whisper
- distraction
Band D — advanced (13 entries)
- tear-worn
- worn with weeping
- and-so
- explained by the text itself
- inkstand ×2
- a desk stand for ink
- amiability
- friendly sweetness
- good-by
- good-by
- anteroom ×2
- a waiting room
- grandees
- a great and powerful noble
- couldn
- could — couldn't: could not
- mortified
- stung with hurt pride
- trembled
- to shake finely
- tact
- fine sense of what fits the moment
- roused
- stirred up; awakened
- handkerchief
- a cloth for the nose or eyes
Band E — rare & archaic (5 entries)
- natálya
- Natásha's formal name
- twenty-five-ruble
- worth twenty-five rubles
- tête-à-tête
- a private talk for two — French
- scornfully
- with scorn
- contemptuously
- with scorn
False friends — common words wearing old senses (4)
- interest
- the spectacle that draws a crowd — the old sense here
- state
- ceremony; pomp — the old sense here
- touching
- concerning — the old sense here
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (20)
- bezúkhov ×2
- the family name of Pierre, the novel's hero
- borís ×8
- Borís Drubetskóy, the ambitious young officer
- bóry ×3
- a wood by Smolénsk
- ilyníchna
- a patronymic — daughter of Ilyá
- mikháylovna ×9
- a patronymic — daughter of Michael
- natásha ×6
- Natásha Rostóva, the novel's radiant heroine
- orlóv
- a count-general of the partisans
- rumyántsovs
- a great count's family
- sónya ×2
- Sónya, the Rostóvs' gentle, devoted cousin
- tarás
- the count's prized serf cook
- vasíli ×2
- Prince Vasíli Kurágin, the smooth court intriguer
- vladímirovich ×3
- a patronymic — son of Vladímir
- genlis ×3
- Madame de Genlis, a prim French author
- véra ×14
- the eldest, coldly correct Rostóv daughter
- nataly
- Natásha — French form
- annette
- a pet form of Anna
- berg ×2
- the careful, careerist officer who marries Véra Rostóva
- madame ×3
- my lady — French
- nicholas ×5
- Nicholas Rostóv, the eldest Rostóv son
- anna ×9
- a woman's name — Anna Pávlovna Schérer and others