Where does “девушка” come from?
девушка (Russian) comes from Russian -у́шка, from Ukrainian -уха, from Ukrainian -а, from Proto-Slavic -ja, from Proto-Indo-European -yeh₂.
девушка (Russian): girl, lass from the age of puberty to womanhood
Definitions
- girl, lass from the age of puberty to womanhood
Ancestry of “девушка”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russian | -у́шка | (added to (normally feminine) nouns, forms diminutives, sometimes with a further change in meaning) |
| 2 | Ukrainian | -уха | — |
| 3 | Ukrainian | -а | used to form feminine deverbal nouns denoting a result, process or an abstract concept |
| 4 | Proto-Slavic | -ja | Suffix creating feminine action nouns, usually... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -yeh₂ | — |