очень

Russian

Etymology

Unknown:

• Often interpreted as inherited from Old East Slavic *очьнь (*očĭnĭ) from око (oko, “eye”); the semantic shift might be "visibly > obviously > prominently > very". The non-productive ending is similar to adverbs like вкривь (vkrivʹ), впрямь (vprjamʹ), встарь (vstarʹ).
• Alternatively, proposed by Lehrman (1987) to be a borrowing from a Finnic language. Compare Finnish oikein and Ingrian oikiin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈot͡ɕɪnʲ]

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

о́чень • (óčenʹ)

1. very, really, much, very much

   Тако́е случа́ется о́чень ре́дко. ― Takóje slučájetsja óčenʹ rédko. ― This happens very rarely.

   Я о́чень люблю́ тебя́. ― Ja óčenʹ ljubljú tebjá. ― I really love you. / I love you very much.

   Э́то о́чень тру́дно. ― Éto óčenʹ trúdno. ― It's really hard.

Predicative

о́чень • (óčenʹ)

1. (colloquial, in the negative) not very good, not very well

   Всё прошло́ не о́чень. ― Vsjó prošló ne óčenʹ. ― It didn't go very well.

   Дела́ иду́т не о́чень. ― Delá idút ne óčenʹ. ― Things aren't going very well.

   Всё вы́глядит не о́чень. ― Vsjó výgljadit ne óčenʹ. ― Things don't look very good.

   Э́то звучи́т не о́чень. ― Éto zvučít ne óčenʹ. ― That doesn't sound very good.

References

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “очень”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), translated from German and supplemented by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Alexander Lehrman (1987), “The Etymology of OЧEНЬ”, in Russian Linguistics, volume 11, issue 1, pages 31-36