What is the Russian diminutive of mouse?

Question

Just a simple question as I am not sure of the right form. What is the Russian diminutive of mouse? мышонок ?

Just wondering why you've decided that ш will mutate to ж? — shabunc, Jul 04 '19 at 20:57
Eastern slavic languages have consonant mutation in some words/roots, but it's like к-ч-ц, г-ж-з, х-ш-с. — user28434, Jul 05 '19 at 08:23

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '19 at 20:54

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Well, "мышонок" is a baby mouse so you were close, but strictly speaking diminutive is мышка which is a small mouse.

answered Jul 04 '19 at 20:54

shabunc

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@Oliver мышка because in Russian a mouse defaults to feminine - мышь – Баян Купи-ка Jul 04 '19 at 21:20
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The answer is perfectly correct, but I'd like to add that it is a quite common reference to a beloved woman: "мышка моя". Very similar to "киса"(means кошка, кошечка), which is very popular amongst young men. – spbnative Jul 05 '19 at 04:58

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 07 '19 at 10:36

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There are several diminutive forms in the Russian language, like in Spanish.

Yes, the first of diminutive for mouse is мышка (small mouse), but there are possibly some other forms with gradually progressing grades of diminutive (but I think they are much rarely used for mouse itself), for example - мышенька (very small mouse) and мышечка (also very small mouse, rarely used but possible).

edited Jul 07 '19 at 10:36

Glorfindel

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answered Jul 06 '19 at 10:10

Peter Nazarenko

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мышулька, мышулечка, мышуленька – Баян Купи-ка Jul 06 '19 at 10:16
Oh, yes!! There are a lot of forms in Russian!! – Peter Nazarenko Jul 06 '19 at 10:22

What is the Russian diminutive of mouse?

2 Answers2