дитя

Russian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old East Slavic дѣтѧ (dětę), from Proto-Slavic *dětę. The и of the first syllable in the singular is from дити́на (ditína), nowadays written дети́на (detína) by analogy with the accented де́ти (déti), with regular distant assimilation ѣ…и́ > и…и́. An alternative formulation by Šakhmatov (ѣ > и before a soft consonant) explains these forms more directly.

Alternative forms

• дитё (ditjó) — non-standard, partially declinable

Noun

дитя́ • (ditjá) n anim (genitive дитя́ти, nominative plural де́ти, genitive plural дете́й, relational adjective де́тский) (see note on oblique forms)

1. (dated or poetic) child, baby, kid (also used ironically or in similes)

   Synonym: ребёнок (rebjónok)

Usage notes

• The oblique cases of singular дитя, except for the accusative case, are never used in speech and seldom in modern prose writing, as many native speakers do not intuitively understand their exact inflectional roles in relation to дитя, and may consider them strange or even un-Russian. Instead, the corresponding cases of ребёнок (rebjónok) are used.
• The plural forms are standard and in common use, and serve as the normal plural forms of ребёнок (rebjónok).

Declension

Related terms

• де́тка (détka)
• детёныш (detjónyš)
• детёнок (detjónok) (rare)
• де́тский (détskij)
• детвора́ (detvorá)
• де́тство (détstvo)

Etymology 2

Noun

дитя́ • (ditjá) n anim or n anim pl

1. inflection of дитё (ditjó):
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative plural

Ukrainian

Etymology

From Old East Slavic дѣтѧ (dětę), from Proto-Slavic *dětę.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

дитя́ • (dytjá) n pers (genitive дитя́ти, nominative plural дитя́та, genitive plural дитя́т, relational adjective дитя́чий, diminutive дитя́тко)

1. child

   Synonym: дити́на (dytýna)

Declension

References

• Bilodid, I. K., editor (1970–1980), “дитя”, in Словник української мови: в 11 т. [Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language: in 11 vols] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• “дитя”, in Горох – Словозміна (in Ukrainian)