курче

Bulgarian

From кур (kur, “cock”) +‎ -че (-če, diminutive suffix).

ку́рче • (kúrče) n

Declension of ку́рче
	singular	plural
indefinite	ку́рче kúrče	ку́рчета kúrčeta
definite	ку́рчето kúrčeto	ку́рчетата kúrčetata

Inherited from Old Slovak kurča. Cognates include Slovak kurča (“chick”) and Ukrainian курча́ (kurčá).

курче (kurče) n (diminutive курчатко, related adjective курчецов)

The distinction between курче (kurče) and кура (kura) is similar to that between Serbo-Croatian пиле / pile and кокош / kokoš, in that the former used to have the meaning of "chick (baby chicken)", but has now come closer to "young broiler chicken", while the latter means "hen", noting that the chicken is older and not ideal to harvest for meat. As a result, for most culinary applications, the words relating to "chick" would be used, rather than the word for "hen", such as Serbo-Croatian пилетина / piletina. In Pannonian Rusyn, курчатко (kurčatko) has supplanted курче (kurče) as the word for "chick", in the actual sense of "baby chicken". This is in contrast with the Slovak usage, where kura is typically used in culinary applications.

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