censonis

Latvian

Etymology

From censt(ies) (“to try”) +‎ -onis. The standard stem for this verb has š (es cenšos, “I try”), but dialectally also t (es centos), which explains why there are derived forms with t, like centīgs, centība (“zeal”), and with s, like censonis (“striver, fighter, assiduous person”) or sacensība (“competition”) (and also, colloquially, censīgs, censība).[1]

Noun

censonis m (2nd declension, feminine form: censone)

  1. striver, fighter, assiduous person (someone who, while overcoming difficulties, tries to achieve a goal; someone who dedicates himself, all his strength, to a goal)
    dzīves sūrums agrāk apraka jauno censoņu sapņus ― life's bitterness soon buried the young fighters' dreams
    viņš domā par censoņiem, viņu sapņiem, viņu cīniņiem ― he thought about the strivers, their dreams, their struggles

Declension

References

  1. Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “censties”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
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