мужчина

Attested since the 16th century as мущи́на (muščína)[1], from Old East Slavic *мужьщина (*mužĭščina), from Proto-Slavic *mǫžьščina, from *mǫžьskъ +‎ *-ina, from *mǫžь +‎ *-ьskъ. Synchronically analyzable as мужско́й (mužskój) +‎ -ина (-ina). Cognates include Ukrainian мужчи́на (mužčýna), Belarusian мужчы́на (mužčýna).

The word is still pronounced in a way that is directly rendered by this outdated spelling мущи́на (muščína), but the current spelling more explicitly displays the etymology and the even older Slavic sound structure.

Мужчина is one of a few masculine nouns that ends in а, and declines with the same endings as a feminine noun would, but always takes adjectives with masculine endings. For example, “я вижу смелого мужчину.»

• IPA^(key): [mʊˈɕːinə]

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мужчи́на • (mužčína) m anim (genitive мужчи́ны, nominative plural мужчи́ны, genitive plural мужчи́н, related adjective мужско́й, augmentative мужчи́нище)

1. man (male person)

• же́нщина (žénščina)
• муж (muž, “husband”)

• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1994), “*mǫžьščina”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages] (in Russian), issue 20 (*morzatъjь – *mъrsknǫti), Moscow: Nauka, →ISBN, page 166
• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “мущина”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress

From Proto-Slavic *mǫžьščina. Cognates include Russian мужчи́на (mužčína), Belarusian мужчы́на (mužčýna).

• IPA^(key): [mʊʒˈt͡ʃɪnɐ]

• Audio

  (file)

мужчи́на • (mužčýna) m pers (genitive мужчи́ни, nominative plural мужчи́ни, genitive plural мужчи́н)

1. man (male person)

   Synonym: (more common) чолові́к (čolovík)

• Bilodid, I. K., editor (1970–1980), “мужчина”, in Словник української мови: в 11 т. [Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language: in 11 vols] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• “мужчина”, in Горох – Словозміна [Horokh – Inflection] (in Ukrainian)