kuka

From Proto-Finnic *ku, from Proto-Uralic *ku- ~ *ko-. The nominative and genitive singular forms, which would have otherwise been monosyllabic, have been extended with -ka (as with joka and mikä). Cognate with Estonian kumb (“which”), Erzya кона (kona, “which”), кода (koda, “how”), Hungarian hol (“where”), Forest Enets [script needed] (hōke, “which one”), Nganasan [script needed] (kuninu, “where”), and Kamassian [script needed] (kāmǝ̑n, “if”).

Inflected forms in modern Finnish are suppletive, deriving from a merger with ken (see the inflection section).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkukɑ/, [ˈkukɑ̝]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ukɑ
• Syllabification^(key): ku‧ka
• Hyphenation^(key): ku‧ka

kuka

1. (interrogative) who

   Kuka on ovella?

   Who is at the door?

2. (relative) who (as an 'independent' relative pronoun; see the usage notes)

   En tiedä kuka sen teki.

   I don't know who did it.

3. (relative, dialectal) who

   Synonyms: joka, mikä

• The singular forms are sometimes used colloquially instead of the actual plural forms. ketä is particularly common for keitä. In some dialects, ketä is used as the nominative singular form in place of kuka.
• kuka is only used as an 'independent' relative pronoun in standard Finnish. It is used for persons, while mikä is used otherwise. See the usage notes of mikä for more on this usage (#4). Outside of this usage (e.g. when attached to a demonstrative pronoun like se), kuka is used as a relative pronoun only in dialects, and joka or mikä is used instead.
• kuka may behave as an indefinite pronoun with an additional word like ikinä, hyvänsä, tahansa (after kuka), or vaikka (before kuka). Some relative uses may also be indefinite:

  Oli kuka oli. (dismissive nuance)

  Whoever it was.

  (literally, “[It] was who [it] was.”)

• In modern Finnish, forms based on the stem form ke- or kene- are the usual inflected forms of the interrogative personal pronoun. Inflected forms based on the stem ku- are now archaic and somewhat poetic, even though the nominative singular kuka is modern. Conversely, the alternative nominative form ken is now archaic or poetic.
  • Thus, kuta sinä rakastat?, while standard, would to a modern speaker appear roughly as archaic as "Whom dost thou love?"
• The illative, adessive, ablative and allative singular cases have alternative forms of equal value; both forms are commonly used. Thus, keneen ~ kehen, kenellä ~ kellä, kenelle ~ kelle and keneltä ~ keltä exist in free variation. Some speakers may consider the former forms to be somewhat more formal, but no such prescription exists.
• As with personal pronouns, a special accusative form exists: kenet (compare minut, sinut, etc.).
• Some cases of kuka/ken are hardly used at all. The inflection table below shows the archaic or otherwise rarely used forms in brackets.
• The instructive plural kuin(ka)*, the instructive singular kun* and the causative singular kuten* (with the dated, archaic form kutenka*) are used as adverbs with completely different meanings from “who”.
• In the inflection table below, poetic and/or archaic forms are shown in brackets and modern usage without brackets.

• ken (see the inflection section above)

• kukapa tietää?

• “kuka”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• akku

From English coat.

• IPA^(key): /ˈku.ka/, [ˈku.kə]

kuka

1. coat

• IPA^(key): [ˈkukɒ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ku‧ka
• Rhymes: -kɒ

Uncertain; perhaps an Italian loan word, compare Northern Italian cuco (“goofy”).

kuka

2. dumb (as a fish), tongue-tied (not saying a word)

Via Czech, from German KUKA, short for Keller und Knappich Augsburg, a German firm which manufactured and supplied orange refuse collection vehicles. Today the company KUKA produces industrial robots and automation technologies.

kuka (plural kukák)

2. garbage can, trash can, refuse bin (especially an outdoor container)

   Coordinate terms: szemetes, szemetesvödör, szemétkosár, szemetesláda, szemétláda

• (dumb): kuka in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (garbage can): kuka in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (wooden hook used for drying tobacco): kuka in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

From Proto-Finnic *kuka, from Proto-Uralic *ku-. Cognates with Finnish kuka (“who”).

The inflected forms derive from Proto-Finnic *ku.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈkukɑ/, [ˈkukɑ]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈkukɑ/, [ˈkuɡ̊ɑ]
• Rhymes: -ukɑ
• Hyphenation: ku‧ka

kuka

1. which? (of many)

Declension of kuka
	singular	plural
nominative	kuka	kut
genitive	kunen
partitive	kuta
illative	kuhu
inessive	kus
elative	kust
allative	kulle
adessive	kul
ablative	kult
translative	kuks
essive	kunenna
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl)

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 212

From Proto-Bantu *-gɪ̀a.

kuka

1. to go

• IPA^(key): [ˈkʊkɐ]

kuka

1. edible animal
2. meat

• kukaku ananyi (“to hunt”)
• kukaputju (“hunter”)
• kukanypa (“marked man, target”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈku.ka/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uka
• Syllabification: ku‧ka

kuka

1. third-person singular present of kukać

Perhaps from Aymara.

kuka

1. coca

• kuka allpa (“cocaine”)

• → Spanish: coca
  • → English: coca
    • → Chinese: 古柯 (gǔkē)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *kuka (“hook, hook-shaped”).

• IPA^(key): /kûka/
• Hyphenation: ku‧ka

kȕka f (Cyrillic spelling ку̏ка)

1. hook

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

• IPA^(key): /kûka/
• Hyphenation: ku‧ka

kȕka f (Cyrillic spelling ку̏ка)

1. Mediterranean slipper lobster (Scyllarides latus)

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

kuka (Cyrillic spelling кука)

1. genitive singular of kuk

kuka (present kukar, preterite kukade, supine kukat, imperative kuka)

1. only used in kuka ur

kuka

1. crab

Borrowed from English cook.

• IPA^(key): [ˈku.ka]
• Hyphenation: ku‧ka

kuka

1. cook, chef
2. cooked food

kuka

1. (transitive) to cook

• R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎^[2], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 168

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

kuka

1. comb

• Beaty de Farris, Kathryn, et al. (2012) Diccionario básico del mixteco de Yosondúa, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 46)‎^[3] (in Spanish), third edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 40