вродли́вий
vrodlývyj
In Ukrainian, the English phrase handsome is translated as вродли́вий (vrodlývyj). Wiktionary also lists краси́вий (krasývyj) and га́рний (hárnyj).
Meaning: of man: attractive (adj)
Ways to say it
| Ukrainian | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| вродли́вий | vrodlývyj |
| краси́вий | krasývyj |
| га́рний | hárnyj |
| хоро́ший | xoróšyj |
| фа́йний | fájnyj |
The words in this list are used to describe an attractive man.
Which one should you use?
краси́вий is a general term for 'beautiful' or 'handsome' that can apply to people, objects or scenery. хоро́ший primarily means 'good' in terms of quality or character and should not be used to mean 'handsome'.
Is it said differently in some regions?
фа́йний is particularly common in Western Ukrainian dialects.
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form вродли́ві changes to вродли́вих in the genitive or accusative case.
How do you pronounce it?
vrodlývyj
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use хоро́ший to mean handsome. It primarily means 'good' in terms of quality or character.
Did you know?
- The word вродли́вий is built from the root meaning 'to be born', suggesting that a handsome person is someone who was 'born with' their good looks.
- The word фа́йний is so characteristic of the West that it is often used in literature to immediately signal that a character is from Lviv or the Carpathian region.
- Unlike English, the word краси́вий can be used to describe a 'handsome' piece of architecture or a 'beautiful' mathematical proof.
Example sentences for Ukrainian are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “handsome” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
