Vocabulary ladder
War and Peace
Book One, XVIII
2,372 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 63% of the text; the hard 7% is 96 entries — all of them below.
A 62.6% (397 types) B 6.7% (119 types) C 4.8% (88 entries) D 1.6% (35 entries) E 0.9% (18 entries) N 5.0% (43 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 119 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- cavalry ×2
- madame ×2
- enjoyment
- honorable
- ribbons
- sofa ×3
- louder ×2
- bald
- dessert
- entertain
- irony
- lively
- mon
- thrust
- inclined
- fond
- thirteen
- lad ×2
- scraped
- glance · glances, glancing ×6
- turtle
- offended
- regiment ×3
- sleeves ×2
Band C — recognition checklist
All 88 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- footman
- attentively
- ominously
- grownup
- overhear
- singly
- governess
- rudeness
- childlike
- expectant
- redness
- talker
- deathbed
- inappropriately
- monogram
- ruble
- leisurely
- condescend
- vas
- mouthpiece
- proverb
- napkin
- disarm
- conscientious
- awkwardly
- emit
- inhale
- frown
- mysteriously
- flushed
- rosy
- prelude
- oblivious
- earthly
- indifference
- involuntary
- hostess
- torment
- chatter
- nearer
- resent
- sinner
- joyful
- clumsy
- stout
- politely
- unmarried
- converse
- wink
- ballroom
- curl
- engrave
- listener
- smoker
- countess
- fearless
- impatient
- summon
- blush
- patty
- pineapple
- youthful
- tease
- wartime
- evidently
- chap
- spectacle
- earring
- tuck
- comrade
- thirst
- fashionable
- manifesto
- vacancy
- remark
- tutor
- midway
- gaze
- prank
- sur
- drown
- ironically
- jealousy
- policeman
- whisper
- heavenly
- flint
- neglect
Band D — advanced (35 entries)
- ever-increasing
- always growing
- fifty-year-old
- fifty years old
- full-toned
- full and rich in sound
- pear-shaped
- shaped like pears
- s-day
- saint's-day: the feast of one's name saint
- light-blue
- light blue
- amiability
- friendly sweetness
- plainness
- plain, simple directness
- sallow
- yellowish and sickly of face
- hearers
- one who listens
- uneasily
- with unease
- joyously
- joyfully
- dinnertime
- the dinner hour
- daresay
- I dare say; I suppose
- peculiarity
- a special odd feature
- decanters
- a glass bottle for wine
- busily
- with busy energy
- état
- explained by the text itself
- astride
- with a leg on each side
- oeuvres
- explained by the text itself
- clatter
- a rattling noise
- oui
- yes — French
- fete
- a festival
- sedate
- calm and composed
- hors
- horse
- quench
- to put out; satisfy thirst
- countenance
- the face; composure
- narrating
- to tell as a story
- mortified
- to wound someone's pride
- savory
- full of good flavor
- omitting ×2
- to leave out
- amuses
- entertained; smiling
- vous ×2
- explained by the text itself
- wrinkled
- a crease line in the skin
- faire
- explained by the text itself
Band E — rare & archaic (18 entries)
- clean-shaven
- with no beard
- comptez
- explained by the text itself
- irreproachably
- beyond blame
- zakúska
- explained by the text itself
- naïvely
- with innocent simplicity
- monosyllables ×2
- an answer of one short word
- circumstantially
- in full detail
- spasmodically
- in sudden jerky fits
- reticule
- a lady's small handbag
- greediness
- greedy appetite
- naïveté
- innocent simplicity — French
- loquacious
- very talkative
- hussar · hussars ×3
- a light-cavalry soldier
- prettily
- in a pretty way
- egotism
- self-centeredness
- très
- explained by the text itself
- scamp
- a playful rascal
- nestlings
- a young bird still in the nest — here: the growing girls
False friends — common words wearing old senses (3)
- interest
- the spectacle that draws a crowd — the old sense here
- recruiting
- restoring — the old sense here
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (24)
- akhrosímova
- Márya Dmítrievna Akhrosímova, the blunt Moscow dowager
- apráksina
- a lady of the Apráksin family
- borís ×4
- Borís Drubetskóy, the ambitious young officer
- dmítrievna ×10
- a patronymic — daughter of Dmítri
- karágina ×2
- Julie Karágina's family name
- kárlovich
- a patronymic — son of Karl
- mikháylovna ×3
- a patronymic — daughter of Michael
- márya ×10
- a Russian woman's name — Princess Mary and others
- natásha ×5
- Natásha Rostóva, the novel's radiant heroine
- nikoláevich ×4
- a patronymic — son of Nicholas
- razumóvskis
- a great count's family
- rostóva
- a lady of the Rostóv family
- semënov
- of the Semënov Guards
- shinshín ×8
- the countess' sharp-tongued Moscow cousin
- sónya ×2
- Sónya, the Rostóvs' gentle, devoted cousin
- véra ×4
- the eldest, coldly correct Rostóv daughter
- cossack ×2
- a horseman-warrior of the southern steppes
- alphonse
- a man's name
- madeira
- the strong island wine
- rhine
- the great German river
- berg ×10
- the careful, careerist officer who marries Véra Rostóva
- nicholas ×4
- Nicholas Rostóv, the eldest Rostóv son
- julie ×3
- Julie Karágina, the wealthy heiress Borís marries
- anna ×3
- a woman's name — Anna Pávlovna Schérer and others