мент (ment)

What it means

1. 1.

   A cop. Disrespectful but so widespread that a long-running television series about decent detectives was called Менты — which took much of the sting out without removing it.

2. 2.

   Say it to a police officer's face and you are asking for trouble; say it among friends and nobody blinks. The neutral words are полицейский and, still, милиционер out of habit.

Examples with translations

• Менты остановили на выезде из города.

  The cops pulled us over on the way out of town.

• Тише, тут менты рядом.

  Keep it down, there are police right there.

Where it comes from

From the argot of the western Russian Empire, where mente was a Hungarian-style cloak worn by Austro-Hungarian police; it came into фе́ня through Polish. The acronym stories circulated online are inventions.

Other forms

Romanised as:

ment