куче

Morphologically formed as ку́чак (kúčak) (obsolescent) +‎ -е (-e), originally meaning puppy. Attested (as Old Church Slavonic коучѧ (kučę)) in the Manassian chronicles, 14th century.

Further origin uncertain. Hypotheses include:

• Onomatopoeic origin: Derived from the root of Bulgarian ку́ям (kújam, “to grumble, to yelp”) (dialectal), ку́кура (kúkura, “goblin-like creature”) (folklore), akin to Lithuanian kaũkti (“to howl”). Perhaps originally a substantivation of the call куч-куч (kuč-kuč) for evoking dogs (in East Slavic attested as куцу-куцу).
• Oghur origin: Related to Hungarian kutya (“dog”), ultimately from Proto-Turkic *kičüg (“small”). Probably of Iranian origin as in Persian کوچک (kučak, “small”). Note especially Armenian կուտիկ (kutik), կոտիկ (kotik, “puppy”) from that Iranian root.

See also Bulgarian кутре́ (kutré, “pinky finger; puppy”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ʃɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

ку́че • (kúče) n (feminine ку́чка, relational adjective ку́чи or ку́чешки, diminutive ку́ченце)

1. diminutive of ку́чак (kúčak)
2. dog (usually a male one)

   Synonym: пес (pes)

• ку́ченце (kúčence, “puppy”)
• кучка́р (kučkár), кучка́рин (kučkárin, “dog-breeder, dog-carer”)
• кучета́р (kučetár, “alpha-dog”) (dialectal)

• вълк (vǎlk, “wolf”)

• “куче”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• “куче”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Chitanka, 2010
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “куче”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 168

• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “куч-куч”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 167

Related to Bulgarian куче (kuče); see there for more.

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ʃɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ку‧че

куче • (kuče) n (plural кучиња, relational adjective кучешки, diminutive кученце or кутре or кучуле, augmentative кучиште)

1. dog

• пес m (pes)
• куц-куц (kuc-kuc)

• Koneski, Kiril (1999) “куче”, in Правописен речник на македонскиот литературен јазик (Pravopisen rečnik na makedonskiot literaturen jazik) [Orthographic Dictionary of the Macedonian literary language] (in Macedonian), "Prosvetno delo", page 198
• “куче” in Дигитален речник на македонскиот јазик (Digitalen rečnik na makedonskiot jazik) [Digital dictionary of the Macedonian language] − drmj.eu

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ɕe]
• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ɕɪ]

ку́че • (kúče) f inan

1. dative/prepositional singular of ку́ча (kúča)

Related to Bulgarian куче (kuče); see there for more.

• IPA^(key): /kût͡ʃe/
• Hyphenation: ку̏‧че

ку̏че n (Latin spelling kȕče, diminutive куче́нце)

1. young dog; puppy

• “куче”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

• IPA^(key): [ˈkut͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -ut͡ʃe
• Hyphenation: ку́‧че

ку́че • (kúče) f inan

1. vocative singular of ку́ча (kúča)