куче

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”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ʃe]

ку́че • (kúče) n (feminine ку́чка, related adjective ку́чи or ку́чешки, diminutive ку́ченце)

1. Diminutive of ку́чак (kúčak)
2. dog (usually a male one)

   Synonym: пес (pes)

• ку́ченце (kúčence, “puppy”)
• кучка́р (kučkár), кучка́рин (kučkárin, “dog-breeder, dog-carer”)
• кучета́р (kučetár, “alpha-dog”) (dialectal)

• вълк (vǎlk, “wolf”)

• куче in Rečnik na bǎlgarskija ezik (Institut za bǎlgarski ezik)
• куче in Rečnik na bǎlgarskija ezik (Čitanka.Info)
• Georgiev V. I., editor (1986), “куче”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 168

• Georgiev V. I., editor (1986), “куч-куч”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3, Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, page 167

Related to Bulgarian куче (kuče); see there for more.

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ʃɛ]

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: ку‧че

ку́че • (kúče) n (plural ку́чиња, related adjective ку́чешки, diminutive 1 ку́ченце, diminutive 2 ку́тре, augmentative ку́чиште)

1. dog

• куц-куц (kuc-kuc)

• Koneski, Kiril (1999), “куче”, in Правописен речник на македонскиот литературен јазик (Pravopisen rečnik na makedonskiot literaturen jazik) [Orthographic Dictionary of the Macedonian literary language] (in Macedonian), "Prosvetno delo", page 198
• “куче” in Дигитален речник на македонскиот јазик (Digitalen rečnik na makedonskiot jazik) [Digital dictionary of the Macedonian language] − drmj.eu

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ɕe]
• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ɕɪ]

ку́че • (kúče) f inan

1. dative/prepositional singular of ку́ча (kúča)

Related to Bulgarian куче (kuče); see there for more.

• IPA^(key): /kût͡ʃe/
• Hyphenation: ку‧че

ку̏че n (Latin spelling kȕče)

1. young dog; puppy