kucēns

Etymology
Morphologically from.

Karulis, however, considers this to be the primary term and its derivative. From, whence also 🇨🇬. Development of meaning "round" &gt; "such that rolls around; clumsy," from the initial sense also dialectal, compare also dialectal.

The development of the sense "puppy" has been gradual: in the 17th century recorded as meaning "kitten" as well.

Up to mid 1930's the standard form was. Viewing this term as a diminutive, the term was reverse derived. The latter is absent from G. Mancelis' dictionary, the term is listed for the sense "female dog," in G. Elgers' dictionary kuca is listed along kuņa, kuce is not to be found in any 18th century dictionaries, nor K. Valdemārs' dictionary from the 19th century. J. Neikens & K. Ulmanis' dictionary lists kuca as a "rare word."

Alternative theories on the origin of kuce:
 * 1) kuce has been the primary form and kucēns its derivative, cf. 🇨🇬,
 * 2) kuce is of the same origin as 🇨🇬, cf. also 🇨🇬 [also 🇨🇬, however, both of these are considered borrowings from Hungarian ]
 * 3) the term is based on the exclamation kuc! to call dogs (Berneker, Fraenkel, Endzelīns), however, Lithuanian ku&#768;c! is a call for pigs and kuca&#768; &mdash; for sheep.

Endzelīns also considers the possibility that kuce is a borrowing, Būga considers the origin of this term unclear.

Noun

 * 1) baby dog, puppy
 * 2) baby or young member of other canid species
 * 1) baby or young member of other canid species