ptaszek

Polish

Alternative forms

ptaszka (Northern Borderlands, Lithuania)
ptaska (Podlachia, Tykocin)
ptásek (“type of pea”) (Biecz, Ropczyce-Sędziszów County)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish ptaszek. By surface analysis, ptach +‎ -ek.^[1] Sense 2 refers to the similarity of a checkmark to a basic drawing of a bird with wings spread out.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpta.ʂɛk/

(Greater Poland):
- (Chełmno-Dobrzyń) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
- (Central Greater Poland) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
- (Eastern Greater Poland) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
(Masovia):
- (Near Masovian) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
(Lesser Poland):
- (Lasovia) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
- (Biecz) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
- (Western Lublin) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]
(Borderlands):
- (Northern Borderlands) IPA^(key): [ˈpta.ʂɛk]

Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -aʂɛk
Syllabification: pta‧szek

Noun

ptaszek m animal (diminutive (dialectal) ptasecka)

diminutive of ptak
(informal) checkmark, tick
(colloquial) cock (male genitalia)
(Chełmno-Dobrzyń, Central Greater Poland, Miloslaw, Eastern Greater Poland, Szołajdy, Near Masovian, Rościszewo, Warsaw, Międzyrzec Podlaski, Lasovia, Tarnobrzeg County, Nisko County, Biecz, Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Western Lublin, Chmielnik, Northern Borderlands, Lithuania) type of game

Declension

Declension of ptaszek

	singular	plural
nominative	ptaszek	ptaszki
genitive	ptaszka	ptaszków
dative	ptaszkowi	ptaszkom
accusative	ptaszka	ptaszki
instrumental	ptaszkiem	ptaszkami
locative	ptaszku	ptaszkach
vocative	ptaszku	ptaszki

The dative singular form ptaskoju is found in the Far Masovian dialect (Przasnysz)
The nominative plural form ptaskowie is found in the Near Masovian dialect (Jagodne)

References

^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000), “ptaszek”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)