ребёнок

Russian

Alternative forms

• ребёнокъ (rebjónok) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)

Etymology

Inherited from Old East Slavic робѧ (robę), diminutive of робъ (robŭ, “slave”) from Proto-Slavic *orbę. Compare with па́робок (párobok, “lad”) (dialectal). The relationship with "slave" could arise from the meaning "orphan" because orphans carried out the hard work in the household.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [rʲɪˈbʲɵnək]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ребёнок • (rebjónok) m anim (genitive ребёнка, nominative plural де́ти or ребя́та^*, genitive plural дете́й or ребя́т^*, relational adjective де́тский or ребя́ческий or ребя́чий, diminutive ребёночек)

1. (plural де́ти, less commonly ребя́та) child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies

   Synonym: дитя́ (ditjá)

2. (plural only) (plural ребя́та) guys, fellows, friends, comrades

Usage notes

• The singular form can only refer to "child"/"baby" sense.
• The plural form ребя́та (rebjáta) can mean "guys", "friends", etc.
• For the plural form "children" де́ти (déti) is the preferred word but ребя́та (rebjáta) is also used.
• The suppletive plural form де́ти (déti) is originally a plural form of дитя́ (ditjá).

Declension

Declension of ребёнок (anim masc-form hard-stem accent-f/b irreg) 

	singular	plural
nominative	ребёнок rebjónok	де́ти△, ребя́та* déti△, rebjáta*
genitive	ребёнка rebjónka	дете́й△, ребя́т* detéj△, rebját*
dative	ребёнку rebjónku	де́тям△, ребя́там* détjam△, rebjátam*
accusative	ребёнка rebjónka	дете́й△, ребя́т* detéj△, rebját*
instrumental	ребёнком rebjónkom	детьми́△, ребя́тами* detʹmí△, rebjátami*
prepositional	ребёнке rebjónke	де́тях△, ребя́тах* détjax△, rebjátax*

^△ Irregular.
^* Use the second plural with the meaning "friends!", "fellows!", "guys!", "comrades!".

Descendants

• → Belarusian: рабёнак (rabjónak)

References

Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “ребенок”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка (in Russian), Moscow: Progress