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Definition 2024

cūka

cūka

See also: cuka, čuka, and cūkā

Latvian

Cūka

Noun

cūka f (4th declension)

  1. pig (esp. Sus scrofa domesticus)
    mājas cūka‎ ― domestic pig
    vaislas cūka‎ ― breeding pig
    meža cūka‎ ― wild boar (lit. forest pig)
    cūka kviec, rukšķ‎ ― the pig is squeaking, squealing
    cūku kūts, aizgalds‎ ― pig pen, pigsty
    cūku šķirnes‎ ― pig breed
    cūku tauki‎ ― lard (lit. pig fat)
    nobarot cūku‎ ― to fatten a pig
    kaut cūku‎ ― to slaughter a pig
    cūkas gaļa, cūkgaļa‎ ― pig meat (= pork)
    cūka viņu sagaidīja sīkiem rukšķiem‎ ― the pig greeted him with small squeals
  2. female pig, sow
    cūka ar sivēniem‎ ― the sow with the piglets
  3. (figuratively) pig (a dirty, unhygienic person; also, a villainous man; colloquially also an unattractive female)
    viņu nosauca pazīstamu cilvēku klātbūtnē par cūku‎ ― he was called a pig in the presence of people he knew
  4. (only plural) the name of a certain card game
    “cūkas” jeb “duraki” ir kāršu spēle, kuras mērķis ir atbrīvoties no rokās esošajām kārtīm‎ ― “pigs,” or “fools,” is a card game whose objective it is to get rid of all the cards in one's hands

Declension

Derived terms

See also

References

  1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “cūka”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *kyaw-, *kyū-, from a palatalized version (perhaps by onomatopeia, by imitating this animal's sound) of Proto-Indo-European *kew-, *kū- ‎(“to howl, to shout; cf. kaukt “to howl””). A parallel, non-palatalized version is probably reflected in placenames like Kūkas, perhaps originally a region with many wild boars. An even further palatalized version (where *ky > *ḱ > *š > Latvian s) may have given rise to placenames like Sauka, or, with a different suffix, to placenames in -saule like Jaunsaule, perhaps even to Lithuanian Šiauliaĩ. A different (minoritary) theory derives čūka from an earlier *sūka, a borrowing from Slavic (cf. Russian сука ‎(súka)); another (minoritary) viewpoint connects cūka ‎(cūka) to imitative words used to call pigs, like Russian чух! ‎(čux!), чух-чух! ‎(čux-čux!), Belarusian, Ukrainian ацю! ‎(acju!), Polish a ciu!, Latvian čuk-čuk!, Lithuanian čiùk-čiùk!, čiū́k-čiū́k! Cognates include Lithuanian dialectal čiūkà, kūkà, also čiūkùtis, kūkùtis ‎(“piglet”), Russian dialectal чуха ‎(čúxa), чухна ‎(čuxná, “pig”).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [tsuːka]

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