copil

Romanian

Alternative forms

• копил (copil) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Formerly ‘bastard’, probably from Proto-Slavic *kopylъ (“shoot, sprout; bastard”) (compare Ukrainian копил (kopyl) or копиля (kopylja), Serbo-Croatian копиле (kȍpile), Bulgarian ко́пеле (kópele)), from *kopàti (“to dig, cultivate”). Also borrowed into Albanian kopil, Byzantine Greek κόπελος (kópelos). Alternatively an old ultimately paleo-Balkan substrate word. Compare Aromanian cochil, Megleno-Romanian copil (“bastard”), cupilaș (“child”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koˈpil/

• Audio (male voice):

  (file)

• Audio (female voice):

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• Rhymes: -il
• Hyphenation: co‧pil

Noun

copil m (plural copii, feminine equivalent copilă)

1. child

   Am doi copii.

   I have two children.

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	copil	copilul		copii	copiii
genitive-dative	copil	copilului		copii	copiilor
vocative	copilule			copiilor

Derived terms

• copilărie
• copilaș

References

• copil in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)