ሕፃን

Amharic

Alternative forms

• ህጻን (həṣan)

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *ṣ́aʔn- (“small cattle”). Cognates include Ge'ez ሕፃን (ḥəṣ́an) and Tigrinya ሕፃን (ḥəṣ́an).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɨsʼan/
• Hyphenation: ሕ‧ፃን

Noun

ሕፃን • (ḥəṣ́an) m or f by sense (plural ሕፃናት (ḥəṣ́anat))

1. baby, infant

Declension

Definiteness forms of ሕፃን (ḥəṣ́an)

	Masculine	Feminine
Indefinite	ሕፃን (ḥəṣ́an)
Definite subject	ሕፃኑ (ḥəṣ́anu)	ሕፃኗ (ḥəṣ́anʷa) ሕፃኒቱ (ḥəṣ́anitu) ሕፃኒቷ (ḥəṣ́anitʷa)
Definite object	ሕፃኑን (ḥəṣ́anun)	ሕፃኗን (ḥəṣ́anʷan) ሕፃኒቱን (ḥəṣ́anitun) ሕፃኒቷን (ḥəṣ́anitʷan)
General object	ሕፃንን (ḥəṣ́anən)

Possessive forms of ሕፃን (ḥəṣ́an)

		Singular	Plural	Formal
First person		ሕፃኔ (ḥəṣ́ane)	ሕፃናችን (ḥəṣ́anaččən)	—
Second person	m	ሕፃንህ (ḥəṣ́anəh)	ሕፃናችሁ (ḥəṣ́anaččəhu)	ሕፃንዎ (ḥəṣ́anwo)
	f	ሕፃንሽ (ḥəṣ́anəš)
Third person	m	ሕፃኑ (ḥəṣ́anu)	ሕፃናቸው (ḥəṣ́anaččäw)
	f	ሕፃኗ (ḥəṣ́anʷa)

References

• Thomas Leiper Kane (1990) “ሕፃን”, in Amharic-English Dictionary, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN

Tigrinya

Noun

ሕፃን • (ḥəṣan)

1. infant
2. child