Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (profsoyuz) or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik). As terminological shorthand "soyuz" by itself was often used interchangeably with each of the slightly longer terms Сове́тский Сою́з (Sovetskiy Soyuz, 'Soviet Union'). It was also a shorthand for the citizenry as a whole.
Soyuz is also the designated name of various projects the country commissioned during the Space Race.
The dictionary definition of Soyuz at Wiktionary The dictionary definition of Союз at Wiktionary The dictionary definition of союз at Wiktionary
