Chișinău is known in Russian as ("Kishinjóv"), while Moldova's Russian-language media call it , ("Kishineu"). It is written in the Latin Gagauz alphabet. It was also written as "Chișineu" in pre-20th-century Romanian and as in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, the English-language name for the city, "Kishinev", was based on the modified Russian one because it entered the English language via Russian at the time Chișinău was part of the Russian Empire (e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Therefore, it remains a common English name in some historical contexts. Otherwise, the Romanian-based "Chișinău" has been steadily gaining wider currency, especially in written language. The city is also historically referred to as , , , or .