želva

See also: zelva

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *žьlvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel-. Cognate with Upper Sorbian žołwja, Lower Sorbian žołw, Polish żółw, Serbo-Croatian žȇlvā and Slovene žélva. First attested in the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʒɛlva]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

želva f (relational adjective želví, diminutive želvička)

1. turtle, tortoise, terrapin
2. (colloquial) old woman; prune (often in sexual context)

Declension

Declension of želva (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	želva	želvy
genitive	želvy	želv
dative	želvě	želvám
accusative	želvu	želvy
vocative	želvo	želvy
locative	želvě	želvách
instrumental	želvou	želvami

Derived terms

adjectives

• želvovinový
• želvový

nouns

• želvák
• želvovina

Further reading

• “želva”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “želva”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “želva”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Želva

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *žьlvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel-. Cognate with Upper Sorbian žołwja, Lower Sorbian žołw, Polish żółw, Czech želva and Slovene žélva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒêːlʋaː/
• Hyphenation: žel‧va

Noun

žȇlvā f (Cyrillic spelling же̑лва̄)

1. sea turtle

Declension

Declension of želva

	singular	plural
nominative	želva	želve
genitive	želve	želvi
dative	želvi	želvama
accusative	želvu	želve
vocative	želvo	želve
locative	želvi	želvama
instrumental	želvom	želvama

Slovene

Želva

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *žьlvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel-. First attested in the 18th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒèːlʋa/

Noun

žẹ́lva f

1. turtle, tortoise

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	žélva
gen. sing.	žélve
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	žélva	žélvi	žélve
genitive (rodȋlnik)	žélve	žélv	žélv
dative (dajȃlnik)	žélvi	žélvama	žélvam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	žélvo	žélvi	žélve
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	žélvi	žélvah	žélvah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	žélvo	žélvama	žélvami

Further reading

• “želva”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “želva”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references