mleku

Mleku is a Polish grammatical form derived from the noun mleko, which means milk. In Polish, mleko is a neuter singular noun; mleku is its dative singular form and also the locative singular form used after certain prepositions. The same word form appears in contexts where the noun is governed by prepositions or verbs that require the locative or dative case.

In practice, mleku appears in phrases constructed with locative prepositions such as w or o. For example, phrases like w mleku (in milk) and o mleku (about milk) illustrate its locative usage. The dative sense of mleku is less prominent in everyday speech but is part of the standard noun inflection and can arise in constructions that require a dative object. As a result, mleku functions as a case-marked form rather than a standalone lexical item.

Etymology and cognates: the base noun mleko comes from Proto-Slavic roots for milk and has cognates in other Slavic languages, such as Czech mléko and Russian молоко. The specific form mleku reflects the typical Slavic pattern of case endings for neuter nouns, aligning with the language’s inflection system.

Summary: mleku is a standard Polish morphological form of the word for milk, used for dative and locative purposes. It illustrates how Polish noun inflection encodes grammatical relationships through endings, and it connects to a family of related terms across Slavic languages.