зестра

Bulgarian

Etymology

Borrowed from Romanian zestre (“dowry”), from Latin dextrae pl (“pledging”). According to Stefan Mladenov, the Bulgarian and Romanian terms may alternatively stem from Proto-Slavic *zęt- (“kinship”) +‎ *-tra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛstrɐ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

зе́стра • (zéstra) f (relational adjective зе́стрен, diminutive зе́стрица)

1. dowry (gift presented to a newlywed family by the bride's kin)

   Synonyms: вено́ (venó), чеи́з (čeíz), прид (prid), при́дан (prídan)

Declension

Declension of зе́стра

	singular	plural
indefinite	зе́стра zéstra	зе́стри zéstri
definite	зе́страта zéstrata	зе́стрите zéstrite

References

• “зестра”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• “зестра”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Chitanka, 2010
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “зестра”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 636
• Nayden Gerov (1897) “зе́стра”, in Рѣчникъ на Блъгарскꙑй язꙑкъ. Съ тлъкувание рѣчи-тꙑ на Блъгарскꙑ и на Русскꙑ. [Dictionary of the Bulgarian language]‎^[1] (in Bulgarian), volume 2, Plovdiv: Дружествена печꙗтница "Съгласие.", page 152