Качалка

Russian

Etymology

From кача́ть (to rock, to swing) + -лка.

Katakana Transliteration Pronunciation

カチャルカ

Noun

кача́лка (kachálka) f inan (genitive кача́лки, nominative plural кача́лки, genitive plural кача́лок)

Historical note: "In the Soviet Union, gyms were officially banned, even though training for your health or improving labor productivity was encouraged. Lifting weights for the purpose of aesthetics was considered capitalistic and not in line with the Soviet spirit. But as you can expect, it didn't stop some Soviet citizens, and they built illegal underground gyms called качалка (kačálka), which means the place to pump in Russian. They used scrap metal from factories to weld their own weights and machines. Then they placed it in the basement of communal apartments and only allowed people they trusted to come in and work out." - SovietStoriesWithYuri