дзяўчына

Belarusian

Alternative forms

• дзе́ўчына (dzjéŭčyna)
• dziaŭczyna, dziaŭčyna — Łacinka (Belarusian Latin alphabet)

Etymology

дзе́ўка (dzjéŭka) +‎ -іна (-ina) (with к (k) → ч (č) occurring under the Slavic first palatalization), with the former derived from дзе́ва (dzjéva) + -ка (-ka), ultimately from Proto-Slavic *děva (“maiden, girl”). Cognates include Ukrainian ді́вчина (dívčyna) / дівчи́на (divčýna), Polish dziewczyna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d͡zʲau̯ˈt͡ʂɨna]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

дзяўчы́на • (dzjaŭčýna) f pers (genitive дзяўчы́ны, nominative plural дзяўча́ты, genitive plural дзяўча́т, diminutive дзяўчы́начка)

1. girl, maiden, young unmarried woman (an adult female human)
2. girlfriend (a female partner in an unmarried romantic relationship)

   Coordinate term: хло́пец (xlópjec)

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with дзяўчы́нка (dzjaŭčýnka, “female child”). Compare also дзяўчо́ (dzjaŭčó, “female teenager”). These different variants hint the person's age range, albeit with a little bit of leeway and overlap. See also кабе́та (kabjéta, “married woman”).

Declension

Declension of дзяўчы́на (pr hard fem-form accent-a irreg-plstem)

	singular	plural
nominative	дзяўчы́на dzjaŭčýna	дзяўча́ты dzjaŭčáty
genitive	дзяўчы́ны dzjaŭčýny	дзяўча́т dzjaŭčát
dative	дзяўчы́не dzjaŭčýnje	дзяўча́там dzjaŭčátam
accusative	дзяўчы́ну dzjaŭčýnu	дзяўча́т dzjaŭčát
instrumental	дзяўчы́най, дзяўчы́наю dzjaŭčýnaj, dzjaŭčýnaju	дзяўча́тамі dzjaŭčátami
locative	дзяўчы́не dzjaŭčýnje	дзяўча́тах dzjaŭčátax
count form	—	дзяўчы́ны1 dzjaŭčýny1

¹Used with the numbers 2, 3, 4 and higher numbers after 20 ending in 2, 3, and 4.

Further reading

• “дзяўчына” in Belarusian–Russian dictionaries and Belarusian dictionaries at slounik.org
• “дзяўчына”, in Skarnik's Belarusian dictionary (in Belarusian), based on Kandrat Krapiva's Explanatory Dictionary of the Belarusian Language (1977-1984)