Vocabulary ladder
War and Peace
Book One, XVII
725 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 64% of the text; the hard 6% is 24 entries — all of them below.
A 64.1% (194 types) B 4.3% (28 types) C 5.2% (19 entries) D 1.9% (10 entries) E 0.4% (3 entries) N 3.3% (11 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 28 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- notorious
- obey
- elbows
- maid ×3
- sighing
- wiping
- elderly
- inform
- embrace · embracing ×2
- treasure
- outfit
- pleasant
- instantly
- breathe
- intention
- knees
- sum
- reflected
- refuse
- sake
- anger
- deeply
- gray
- poverty
Band C — recognition checklist
All 19 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- pocketbook
- waistcoat
- tattered
- politeness
- ruble
- bustle
- dignified
- weep
- weeping
- excellency
- uneasy
- humiliating
- countess
- summon
- blush
- exaggerated
- sorrow
- softly
- depart
Band D — advanced (10 entries)
- ill-spent
- badly spent
- crossly
- in a bad temper
- kindhearted
- kind at heart
- spendthrift
- one who wastes money freely
- sauté ×2
- a dish fried in butter — French
- waddling
- to walk with a rolling sway
- agitating
- stirred up; troubled
- ruffling
- a gathered frill at the neck
- stooped
- to bend down
- handkerchief ×4
- a cloth for the nose or eyes
Band E — rare & archaic (3 entries)
- madère
- Madeira wine — French
- cambric
- fine white linen
- deferential
- humbly respectful
False friends — common words wearing old senses (2)
- state
- ceremony; pomp — the old sense here
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (9)
- bezúkhov ×2
- the family name of Pierre, the novel's hero
- borís
- Borís Drubetskóy, the ambitious young officer
- dmítri ×5
- the Rostóvs' man of business
- mikháylovna ×5
- a patronymic — daughter of Michael
- rostóva
- a lady of the Rostóv family
- tarás
- the count's prized serf cook
- vladímirovich
- a patronymic — son of Vladímir
- annette
- a pet form of Anna
- anna ×5
- a woman's name — Anna Pávlovna Schérer and others