мизинец

From Proto-Slavic *mězinъ (“younger, smaller”) + -ец (-ec), possibly blended with an agent noun of *midzati / *mizgati (“to caress, to smooch”). The unexpected root -и- may be also a result of narrowing of unstressed open vowels, which is regular within Eastern dialects (but not in the West).

• IPA^(key): [miˈzinɛt͡s]

мизи́нец • (mizínec) m (feminine мизи́нка) (dialectal)

1. youngest male child (within a family)

• “мизинец”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• Nayden Gerov (1899) “мизи́нець”, in Рѣчникъ на Блъгарскꙑй язꙑкъ. Съ тлъкувание рѣчи-тꙑ на Блъгарскꙑ и на Русскꙑ. [Dictionary of the Bulgarian language]‎^[1] (in Bulgarian), volume 3, Plovdiv: Дружествена печꙗтница "Съгласие.", page 64
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “мизинец, мизинка”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 786

Inherited from Old East Slavic мѣзиньць (mězinĭcĭ, “youngest son”), from Proto-Slavic *mězinьcь.

• IPA^(key): [mʲɪˈzʲinʲɪt͡s]

• Audio:

  (file)

мизи́нец • (mizínec) m inan (genitive мизи́нца, nominative plural мизи́нцы, genitive plural мизи́нцев, diminutive мизи́нчик)

1. little finger
   • 1887, Антон Чехов [Anton Chekhov], Письмо; English translation from Constance Garnett, transl., The Letter, 1919:

     — Зна́чит, вы ны́нче не пое́дете к себе́ домо́й? — спроси́л он, остана́вливаясь о́коло тёмного окна́ и просо́вывая мизи́нец к спя́щей, наду́вшейся канаре́йке.

     — Znáčit, vy nýnče ne pojédete k sebé domój? — sprosíl on, ostanávlivajasʹ ókolo tjómnovo okná i prosóvyvaja mizínec k spjáščej, nadúvšejsja kanaréjke.

     "So you are not going home to-night?" he asked, stopping near the dark window and poking with his little finger into the cage where a canary was asleep with its feathers puffed out.

2. little toe

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “мизинец”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress