gnīda

See also: gnida, gnīdā, and gnīdās

Latvian

Gnīda (1)

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *gnī́ˀdāˀ. Cognates include Lithuanian glìnda (< *gninda), Proto-Slavic *gňida (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian гни́да (gnída), Belarusian гні́да (hnída), Czech hnida, Polish gnida), Old Norse gnit, Swedish gnet, English nit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡnīːda]

(file)

Noun

gnīda f or m (4th declension)

1. nit (lice eggs)

   gnīdas matos ― nits in the hair

   galvas utis apmetas cilvēka matos; pie matiem tās pielīmē savas oliņas - gnīdas ― head lice settle on human hair; and by that hair they stick their eggs: nits

   vārīja ilgi un teica, ka nu vairs neviena gnīda dzīva nebūšot palikusi ― she boiled (the clothes) for a long time and (then) said that not a single living nit had remained

2. (figuratively) (also masculine, dat. gnīdam) nit, maggot (despicable, worthless person)

   tas bijis turpat kaimiņa saimnieks, īsts gnīda ― that had been the neighbor, a true nit (= despicable person)

   “tu mani te nebaidi, gnīda!” tēvocis izkliedza ― “so you're not afraid of me here, you maggot!” (his) uncle shouted

Usage notes

In the sense of "nit", gnīda is always feminine; in the sense of "despicable person", however, it is ambigenous. It is masculine when it refers to males and feminine when it refers to females. It is, however, always declined as a feminine noun, with the exception of its dative singular form, which is gnīdam when it refers to a male and gnīdai when it refers to a female.

Declension

Declension of gnīda (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	gnīda	gnīdas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	gnīdu	gnīdas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	gnīdas	gnīdu
dative (datīvs)	gnīdam, gnīdai	gnīdām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	gnīdu	gnīdām
locative (lokatīvs)	gnīdā	gnīdās
vocative (vokatīvs)	gnīda	gnīdas