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куче

/[ˈkut͡ʃɛ]/
Bulgariannoun

Grammatical form

куче is the diminutive form of ку́чак.

Definitions

  1. 1.
    dog (the species Canis familiaris (sometimes designated Canis lupus familiaris), domesticated for thousands of years and of highly variable appearance because of human breeding) (usually a male one)

Synonyms & related words

Word family
  • ку́ченце
  • кучка́р
  • кучка́рин
  • кучета́р
Synonyms
Related words (1)

Etymology

Morphologically formed as ку́чак (kúčak) (obsolescent) + -е (-e), originally meaning puppy. Attested (as Old Church Slavonic коучѧ (kučę)) in the Manassian chronicles, 14th century. Further origin uncertain. Hypotheses include: * Onomatopoeic origin: Derived from the root of Bulgarian ку́ям (kújam, “to grumble, to yelp”) (dialectal), ку́кура (kúkura, “goblin-like creature”) (folklore), akin to Lithuanian kaũkti (“to howl”). Perhaps originally a substantivation of the call куч-куч (kuč-kuč) for evoking dogs (in East Slavic attested as куцу-куцу). * Oghur origin: Related to Hungarian kutya (“dog”), ultimately from Proto-Turkic *kičüg (“small”). Probably of Iranian origin as in Persian کوچک (kučak, “small”). Note especially Armenian կուտիկ (kutik), կոտիկ (kotik, “puppy”) from that Iranian root. See also Bulgarian кутре́ (kutré, “pinky finger; puppy”).

Forms

  • ку́чеcanonical • neuter
  • kúčeromanization
  • ку́чкаfeminine
  • ку́чешкиadjective • relational
  • ку́чиadjective • relational
  • ку́ченцеdiminutive
  • ку́чеindefinite • singular
  • ку́четаindefinite • plural
  • ку́ченяdialectal • indefinite • plural
  • ку́четоdefinite • singular
  • ку́четатаdefinite • plural
  • ку́ченятаdefinite • dialectal • plural

Nearby Bulgarian words

Browse the Bulgarian dictionary →