These beautiful dolls are known in America as "nesting" dolls, "nestling" dolls, and even as "stacking" dolls. One sometimes hears an American attempt at pronouncing the Russian word for the dolls as "Matrooshka." That's a good attempt, but not quite accurate.

The actual pronunciation is closer to "MatrYOshka," with a hard "O" and an emphasis on that second syllable (as the "o" in "OH my gosh" is pronounced, not an "oooo" as in "you"). So, "ma-TRYOSH-ka" is the proper pronunciation for a single doll, and "ma-TRYOSH-kee" for two or more dolls (the plural). Better still if you can roll the "r" (as in Spanish) as you pronounce "ma-TRYOSH-ka." Have fun pronouncing it, and don't worry if you have trouble with it--just use any of the American terms for the dolls and we'll certainly know what you are referring to!

Matryoshka remains a symbol of motherhood and fertility, and children as well as adults delight in taking apart the dolls one by one to discover the mystery of what lies within...