Russian

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Etymology

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Onomatopoetic in origin. Compare dialectal хмы́кать (xmýkatʹ, to whine, to whimper), Ukrainian хни́кати (xnýkaty, to whine, to whimper), and similar verbs in other languages, such as Czech kníkati (to whine, to squeal), also kničeti, kňučeti; Polish knychać (to whine, to squeal); Latvian šnukstêt (to sob, to whine), dialectal German schnucken (to sigh, to sob, to whimper).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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хны́кать (xnýkatʹimpf

  1. (colloquial) to whine, to whimper
  2. (colloquial, figurative) to complain tearfully, to sob

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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