This paper considers educational and school etymological analysis (etymological parsing) as a type of Russian language exercises. The objective that was set and achieved involved developing a typology (a classification) of etymological exercises corresponding to the main subject competences. Based on the ‘presence/absence of reference supports’ ctiterion, we classify etymological exercises into those performed a) with and b) without reference supports, i. e. from memory and intuition. Known and new etymological exercises are divided into three types, namely speech, language, and complex. Speech (textual) tasks split into two types: perception and reproduction of ready-made etymological messages and preparation of new etymological messages using one or several reference supports. Language exercises include classical and game-based vocabulary exercises with partial etymological analysis. Complex exercises are treated as a complete structural analysis (morphemic, derivational) with an etymological follow-up. The essence of the etymological tasks is revealed through typical didactic material, assignments, and sample works. The taxonomic and entity description of etymological exercises creates prerequisites for their continuous and sys- tematic use in teaching Russian in all comprehensive school forms.