жэмчуг

Belarusian

Alternative forms

• (uncommon) жо́мчуг (žómčuh), зе́мчуг (zjémčuh)
• žemčuh — Łacinka (Belarusian Latin alphabet)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Ruthenian жемчугъ (žemčuh), же́нчугъ (žénčuh), же́мчюгъ (žémčjuh), же́нчюгъ (žénčjuh) (whence Ukrainian же́мчуг (žémčuh)), from Old East Slavic жьмьчюгъ (žĭmĭčjugŭ), жьньчюгъ (žĭnĭčjugŭ) (whence Lithuanian žemčiūgas, Russian же́мчуг (žémčug)), from Bulgar *ǯinǯü (whence also Chuvash ӗнчӗ (ĕnč̬ĕ) and Hungarian gyöngy), from Common Turkic *yinǯü (whence also Old Turkic 𐰖𐰅𐰨𐰇 (yénčü), Kazakh інжу (ınju), Turkish inci etc.), ultimately from Middle Chinese 珍珠 (ʈˠiɪn t͡ɕɨo), 真珠 (t͡ɕiɪn t͡ɕɨo, “true pearls”), whence also Mandarin 珍珠 (zhēnzhū).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʐɛmt͡ʂux]

Noun

жэ́мчуг • (žémčuh) m inan (genitive жэ́мчугу, nominative plural жэ́мчугі, genitive plural жэ́мчугаў, relational adjective жамчу́жны)

1. pearl (material or as a collective)

   Synonym: перл (pjerl)

   ні́тка жэ́мчугу ― nítka žémčuhu ― pearl thread

Declension

Declension of жэ́мчуг (inan velar masc-form accent-a)

	singular	plural
nominative	жэ́мчуг žémčuh	жэ́мчугі žémčuhi
genitive	жэ́мчугу žémčuhu	жэ́мчугаў žémčuhaŭ
dative	жэ́мчугу žémčuhu	жэ́мчугам žémčuham
accusative	жэ́мчуг žémčuh	жэ́мчугі žémčuhi
instrumental	жэ́мчугам žémčuham	жэ́мчугамі žémčuhami
locative	жэ́мчугу žémčuhu	жэ́мчугах žémčuhax
count form	—	жэ́мчугі1 žémčuhi1

¹Used with the numbers 2, 3, 4 and higher numbers after 20 ending in 2, 3, and 4.

Derived terms

• жамчу́жніца (žamčúžnica, “mother-of-pearl”)
• жамчу́жына (žamčúžyna, “individual pearl”)

 

References

• “жэмчуг”, in Skarnik's Belarusian dictionary (in Belarusian), based on Kandrat Krapiva's Explanatory Dictionary of the Belarusian Language (1977-1984)
• “жэмчуг” in Belarusian–Russian dictionaries and Belarusian dictionaries at slounik.org