cucuvea

Romanian

cucuvea

Alternative forms

• cucumea, cucumeagă, cucuvaie

Etymology

Often considered to be from Greek κουκουβάγια (koukouvágia), but seems linked to a number of foreign cognates, including Albanian kukuvajkë, Italian coccoveggia, cuccumeggia, Calabrian cucumau, cuccuvella, Sardinian cuccumeu ~ cuccumiau, and Sicilian cuccuvìu. Other theories include a Vulgar Latin *cucumella, or an expressive or onomatopoeic creation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.kuˈve̯a/

Noun

cucuvea f (plural cucuvele)

1. little owl (Athene noctua)

   Synonym: (regional, in Transylvania, Maramureș and Banat) pasărea-mortului

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	cucuvea	cucuveaua	cucuvele	cucuvelele
genitive-dative	cucuvele	cucuvelei	cucuvele	cucuvelelor
vocative	—		—

Derived terms

• cucuvea pitică

See also

• bufniță
• buhă
• ciuf
• huhurez
• strigă
• strigide
• strigiformă

References

• “cucuvea”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026