братан (bratan)

What it means

1. 1.

   Bro. An augmentative of брат 'brother', used to address a male friend or, pointedly, a stranger you are trying to keep on side.

2. 2.

   The register depends entirely on who says it. Among friends it is warm; from a stranger on the street at night it is a pressure tactic, and the 1990s racketeer association is still live.

Examples with translations

• Братан, выручи, подбрось до дома.

  Bro, do me a favour — give me a lift home.

• Слышь, братан, закурить не будет?

  Oi mate, got a smoke?

  Note: Classic opening line of a street shakedown. The friendliness is the point of the technique.

Where it comes from

брат plus the augmentative suffix -ан, a productive pattern in informal Russian. Its criminal-world connotation comes from 1990s usage among organised crime, where братва named the collective.

Other forms

Romanised as:

bratan

Spellings and variants:

брат, бро, браток