ውሻ

Amharic

Etymology

Borrowed from Sidamo woshsha (“dogs”), reanalysed as a singular.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɨʃːa/
• Hyphenation: ው‧ሻ

Noun

ውሻ • (wəšša) m or f (plural ውሾች (wəššočč) or ውሻዎች (wəššawočč))

1. dog

Usage notes

• The gender of ውሻ depends on the natural gender of the referent. As such, it may be translated as either male dog (masculine) or bitch (feminine) depending on the context. If the natural gender is unknown, the masculine gender is used.

Declension

Definiteness forms of ውሻ (wəšša)

	Masculine	Feminine
Indefinite	ውሻ (wəšša)
Definite subject	ውሻው (wəššaw)	ውሻዋ (wəššawa) ውሻይቱ (wəššayətu) ውሻይቷ (wəššayətʷa)
Definite object	ውሻውን (wəššawən)	ውሻዋን (wəššawan) ውሻይቱን (wəššayətun) ውሻይቷን (wəššayətʷan)
General object	ውሻን (wəššan)

Possessive forms of ውሻ (wəšša)

		Singular	Plural	Formal
First person		ውሻዬ (wəššaye)	ውሻችን (wəššaččən)	—
Second person	m	ውሻህ (wəššah)	ውሻችሁ (wəššaččəhu)	ውሻዎ (wəššawo)
	f	ውሻሽ (wəššaš)
Third person	m	ውሻው (wəššaw)	ውሻቸው (wəššaččäw)
	f	ውሻዋ (wəššawa)

References

• Isenberg, Karl Wilhelm (1841) Dictionary of the Amharic language. Amharic and English‎^[1], London: The Church Missionary Society, page 148
• Thomas Leiper Kane (1990), “ውሻ”, in Amharic-English Dictionary, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN