хата (khata)

What it means

1. 1.

   Somebody's flat, considered as a venue. хата свободна means the parents are away and everyone can come round — the word is inseparable from that situation.

2. 2.

   Also common in the sense of one's own place generally: своя хата, 'a place of my own'. The proverb моя хата с краю means 'nothing to do with me, leave me out of it'.

Literally: peasant hut

Examples with translations

• В субботу хата свободна, собираемся у меня.

  The flat's free on Saturday — everyone round mine.

• Моя хата с краю, ничего не знаю.

  Not my problem, I know nothing about it.

  Note: A set phrase, and a pointed one: it accuses the speaker of deliberate detachment.

Where it comes from

The old word for a peasant cottage, shared with Ukrainian, ultimately of Iranian origin via the steppe. Applying it to a Moscow flat is affectionate irony that has long since worn into the neutral slang word.

Other forms

Romanised as:

khata