очень
Russian
Etymology
Unknown:
- Often interpreted as inherited from Old East Slavic *очьнь (*očĭnĭ) from око (oko, “eye”); the semantic shift might be "visibly > obviously > prominently > very". The non-productive ending is similar to adverbs like вкривь (vkrivʹ), впрямь (vprjamʹ), встарь (vstarʹ).
- Alternatively, proposed by Lehrman (1987) to be a borrowing from a Finnic language. Compare Finnish oikein and Ingrian oikiin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈot͡ɕɪnʲ]
Audio (file)
Adverb
о́чень • (óčenʹ)
- very, really, much, very much
- Тако́е случа́етсяо́чень ре́дко. ― Takóje slučájetsja óčenʹ rédko. ― This happens very rarely.
- Яо́чень люблю́ тебя́. ― Ja óčenʹ ljubljú tebjá. ― I really love you. / I love you very much.
- Э́тоо́чень тру́дно. ― Éto óčenʹ trúdno. ― It's really hard.
Predicative
о́чень • (óčenʹ)
- (colloquial, in the negative) not very good, not very well
- Всё прошло́ нео́чень. ― Vsjó prošló ne óčenʹ. ― It didn't go very well.
- Дела́ иду́т нео́чень. ― Delá idút ne óčenʹ. ― Things aren't going very well.
- Всё вы́глядит нео́чень. ― Vsjó výgljadit ne óčenʹ. ― Things don't look very good.
- Э́то звучи́т нео́чень. ― Éto zvučít ne óčenʹ. ― That doesn't sound very good.
References
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “очень”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
- Alexander Lehrman (1987), “The Etymology of OЧEНЬ”, in Russian Linguistics, volume 11, issue 1, pages 31-36