cienki

Cienki is a Polish adjective meaning thin, slender, or narrow. It describes objects with small thickness, such as cienka warstwa farby (a thin layer of paint) or cienkie tkaniny (thin fabrics). It can also be used for physical build, though for people the more common terms are szczupły or chudy; cienki may be used but can sound less natural in reference to a person’s physique.

In figurative usage, cienki conveys narrow margins or slight intensity. For example, cienka granica między prawdą a kłamstwem refers to a narrow boundary between truth and lies, and cienka linia bezpieczeństwa can describe a precarious margin of safety. The word also appears in measurements of thickness in scientific or technical contexts.

Morphology and forms: Polish adjectives agree with gender and number. The basic forms are cienki (masculine), cienka (feminine), and cienkie (neuter or plural). The comparative form is cieńszy, and the superlative is najcieńszy. The adverbial form meaning “thinly” is cienko, used to describe manner, for example pokrojone cienko plasterki (thinly sliced).

Etymology and relations: cienki is a native Slavic term with cognates in other Slavic languages, such as Czech tenký and Russian тонкий, which express the idea of thinness. While the exact historical development in Polish is not always detailed in brief references, cienki has been in general use since Middle Polish to describe physical and metaphorical thinness.

See also: thinness in materials, body descriptions, and related adjectives such as szczupły, chudy, and wąski.