"bear"
Translation:медведь
14 Comments
Just for the sake of curiosity: does the surname Medvedev mean son of the bear?
«Bear's», to be exact, «son» is implied. «Медве́дев» used to be a possessive adjective.
Thank you, now I understand. The proper noun Bear--his son, not the animal bear's son.
I've always been told that bear is мишка. When I look for a translation online, it says медведь. Is there something special going on here?
Медве́дь is the usual word for 'bear', ми́шка is a diminutive/endearment form, meaning some small or cute bear.
Most words in Russian can have a diminutive version, usually with a -к- suffix: змея́ 'snake' — зме́йка 'little/cute snake', соба́ка 'dog' — соба́чка 'doggie', кот 'cat' — ко́тик 'small/cute cat', сто́л 'table' — сто́лик 'small table', etc.
When it's a female voice pronouncing it, it sounds fine. However, when it's the male's voice, it sounds almost like, "Medovich". Is anyone else hearing this?
