Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/ženъka

This Proto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Slavic

Etymology

From *ženà (“woman; wife”) +‎ *-ъka (“diminutive suffix”).

Noun

*žènъka f

woman
wife

Inflection

Declension of *ženъka (hard a-stem)
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*ženъka	*ženъcě	*ženъky
genitive	*ženъky	*ženъku	*ženъkъ
dative	*ženъcě	*ženъkama	*ženъkamъ
accusative	*ženъkǫ	*ženъcě	*ženъky
instrumental	ženъkojǫ, ženъkǫ^**	*ženъkama	*ženъkami
locative	*ženъcě	*ženъku	ženъkasъ, ženъkaxъ^*
vocative	*ženъko	*ženъcě	*ženъky

^* -asъ is the expected Balto-Slavic form but is found only in some Old Czech documents; -axъ is found everywhere else and is formed by analogy with other locative plurals in -xъ.
^** The second form occurs in languages that contract early across /j/ (e.g. Czech), while the first form occurs in languages that do not (e.g. Russian).

Descendants

East Slavic:
- Old East Slavic: женъка (ženŭka), жонъка (žonŭka)
  - Old Ruthenian: жо́нка (žónka), жѡ́нка (žốnka), жу́нка (žúnka), жи́нка (žínka) — Middle Ukrainian, же́нка (žénka) — archaic form
    - Belarusian: жо́нка (žónka); (dialectal) жынка (žynka)
    - Carpathian Rusyn: жу́нка (žúnka)
    - Ukrainian: жі́нка (žínka); (dialectal) жо́нка (žónka), жу́нка (žúnka), жи́нка (žýnka)
  - Russian: (dialectal) жёнка (žónka)
- Old Novgorodian: жонъка (žonŭka)
South Slavic:
- Bulgarian: жѐнка (žènka)
- Macedonian: женка (ženka)
- Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic script: же̑нка
  
  Latin script: žȇnka
- Slovene: ženka
West Slavic:
- Polish: żonka
- Sorbian:
  - Lower Sorbian: žonka