костенурка

Bulgarian

Testudo graeca, a type of tortoise found in Bulgaria

Зелена морска костенурка — a green sea turtle

Etymology

Feminine form of ко́ст (kóst, “bone”) (i-stem) +‎ ну́рец (núrec, “diver”) (dialectal, obsolete).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kostɛˈnurkɐ]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

костену́рка • (kostenúrka) f (diminutive костену́рче)

1. turtle, tortoise (reptile of order Testudines)

   Synonym: (dialectal) же́лва (žélva)

Usage notes

In principle, Bulgarian makes no implicit distinction between terrestrial or aquatic Testudines. If specification is needed, it is made explicitly:

• во́дна костену́рка (vódna kostenúrka, “aquatic turtle”)
• сухозе́мна костену́рка (suhozémna kostenúrka, “terrestrial turtle”)

Based on the etymology of the word, though, it can be deduced that костену́рка (kostenúrka) originally referred to aquatic turtles.

Declension

Declension of костену́рка

	singular	plural
indefinite	костену́рка kostenúrka	костену́рки kostenúrki
definite	костену́рката kostenúrkata	костену́рките kostenúrkite
vocative form	костену́рке kostenúrke	костену́рки kostenúrki

Related terms

• кост (kost, “bone”)
• ну́рец (núrec, “diver; grebe (aquatic bird)”) (dialectal)

References

• “костенурка”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• “костенурка”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Chitanka, 2010