# All Slavic languages: multiple births



## Encolpius

I wonder what you call concrete types of multiple births in your language...

*Czech (plural)*

2 - dvojčata (twins)
3 - trojčata (triplets)
4 - čtyřčata
5 - paterčata
6 - šesterčata
7 - sedmerčata
8 - osmerčata
9 - ? if such children/people exist


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## bibax

9 - devaterčata
10 - desaterčata
11 - jedenácterčata
...
19 - devatenácterčata
...
1000 - tisícerčata 

Třicetiletá Tunisanka čeká *dvanácterčata*. 
(Woman in Tunisia pregnant with 12 babies.)

It was a canard, of course.


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## marco_2

*Polish (plural):

*2 - bliźnięta (two boys you can call _bliźniaki, _two girls - _bliźniaczki_, according to specialists dizygotic twins should be called _dwojaczki, _though most of people probably don't know that)
3 - trojaczki
4 -  czworaczki
5 - pięcioraczki
6 - sześcioraczki
7 - siedmioraczki
8 - ośmioraczki, and so on but in fact such multiple births don't happen to human beings.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Slovenian:

2 - masc. dual *dvojčka*, fem. dual *dvojčici* (masc. plural *dvojčki*, fem. plural *dvojčice*)
3 - *trojčki
*4 - *četverčki* or *četvorčki*
5* - **peterčki *or* petorčki
*
This is as far as _Slovar slovenskega knjižnega_ _jezika_ goes, but the rest are formed on the same pattern -- albeit with the alternate ending -*orčki* becoming increasingly less common as the numbers increase (don't ask me why):

6 - *šestorčki *or *šesterčki
*7 - *sedmerčki* (but few results for *sedmorčki*)
...
12 - *dvanajsterčki *(but only a single Google hit for *dvanajstorčki*)


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## Azori

*Slovak (plural):*

2 - dvojčatá / dvojčence, colloq. dvojičky; less frequent: blížence, blizňatá

3 - trojčatá / trojčence, colloq. trojičky

4 - štvorčatá / štvorčence, colloq. štvoričky

5 - pätorčatá / pätorčence

6 - šestorčatá

7 - sedmorčatá

8 - osmorčatá

The forms ending in -ence are somewhat less common than those ending in -atá. Šestorčence, sedmorčence, osmorčence etc. could possibly work but don't seem to be used.


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## itreius

BCS

2 - dvojke / dvojci (m)
3 - trojke / trojci (m)
4 - četvorke / četvorci (m)
5 - petorke / petorci (m)
6 - šestorke
7 - sedmorke
8 - osmorke
...

The masculine one is only used for male children/babies, the other one is regardless of sex and more common. I can't seem to find any results for the masculine variants of the higher numbers so I guess they're not in use.

Regionally, there's:

_dvojčeki_, _trojčeki_, etc.


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## rusita preciosa

Russian: 
2: двойняшки /dvoinyashki/
3: тройняшки /troinyashki/
I’m not sure I have ever heard the following words, but grammatically they would be formed in a similar way:
4: четверняшки /tchetvernyashki/
5: пятерняшки /piaternyashki/ 
... etc...

There are also group names that I guess are more likely used for a group of 4+ siblings:
2: двойня /dvoinya/
3: тройня /troinya/
4: четверня /tchetvernya/
5: пятерня /piaternya/ 
... etc...

EDIT: Also, the general term for multiple birth siblings (any number) is *близнецы* /bliznetsy/, the root is -близ- meaning "close, near". For example, conjoint twins is *cиамские близнецы */siamskiye bliznetsy/. The colloquial term for sisters is близняшки /bliznyashki/_._


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## Duya

itreius said:


> BCS
> 2 - dvojke / dvojci (m)



But the more common term for twins is _blizanci_, at least in Serbia and Bosnia; _bliznakinje_ if they're both girls. I haven't heard of male forms: _dvojci_ etc.


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## swintok

In practice Ukrainian makes the difference between identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins, though I have not found this distinction in the dictionary.

близнята (more rarely близня) - set of identical twins; can also be близнюки if male twins (близнюк for one of the males twins) or близнючки if female identical twins (близнючка for one of the female twins)
двійнята (more rearely двійня) - set of male or mixed fraternal twins
двійнятка - set of female fraternal twins 
двійнятко - one of a set of fraternal twins.  The term двійник can be used for one of the twins, but also for something or someone that is very similar to another person or thing either in looks or, for people, in mannerisms.  I've also heard двійняшка for a female fraternal twin, but I suspect that is a Russianism.  The Ukrainian form would be двійничка, but I've never heard that used.
трійня or трійнята - set of triplets
четвірня or четвірнята - set of quadruplets

For more than four, the term would more likely have the -нята ending to indicate that the word is being used to refer to children.
п'ятірнята (п'ятірня is the term used collectively for your palm and five fingers)
шестірнята or шестернята (шестірня is the term for a gear wheel and шестерня is the term for a team of six horses (also шестерик))
etc.


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## Encolpius

swintok said:


> In practice Ukrainian makes the difference between identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins, though I have not found this distinction in the dictionary....



That's really very interesting....Thanks...


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## Gnoj

Macedonian:

2 - близнаци (bliznaci)
3 - тројка/тризнаци (trojka/triznaci)
4 - четворка (četorka)
5 - петорка (petorka)

...and theoretically 
6 - шесторка (šestorka)
7 - седморка (sedmorka)
8 - осморка (osmorka)
9 - деветорка (devetorka)
10 - десеторка (desetorka)
and so on


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## Encolpius

bibax said:


> ...1000 - tisícerčata ...



Although it sounds funny it is really important (for a foreigner) how to make such forms, so it is really useful. 
Just imagine a sci-fi on TV where they talk about the planet XHZ895 where small intelligent I don't know what live and "tisícerčata" were born. I 'd have no problem to make that word in my mother tongue, but I wonder about English or Czech or any other language. Nothing is impossible (and sometimes even necessary) in linguistics.  But bibax knows Latin so for him would be no problem to make such a Latin/English expression. And there are 5 links for tisícerčata on net.


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## bibax

In Czech it is quite easy to form the nouns *dvojčata, trojčata, šesterčata*, etc., if you know the numerals used for _pluralia tantum_:

*dvoj*-e hodinky (two watches) -> dvoj*-če* (sing.), dvoj-*čata* (plur.)
*troj*-e hodinky (three watches) -> troj*-če* (sing.), troj*-čata* (plur.)
...
*šester*-y hodinky (six watches) -> šester*-če* (sing.), šester*-čata* (plur.)
...

Only for 4 children there are two forms: *čtverče/čtverčata* < čtvery hodinky (regular, but hardly used) and *čtyřče/čtyřčata* (non-regular, most common).

Tisícerčata can be used as a exaggeration: Já snad budu mít tisícerčata.


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