podobou

Podobou is the instrumental singular form of the Czech noun podoba, which means appearance, likeness, or form. As a grammatical form, podobou is used in sentences where the instrumental case expresses means, manner, or resemblance. It is most commonly encountered in literary, historical, or formal prose and is much rarer in everyday speech.

Etymology and meaning

The word podoba comes from the Proto-Slavic root related to likeness or shape, and it is cognate with related terms in several Slavic languages. The adjective podobný (similar, resembling) is closely related, and its forms share the same semantic field. Podobou, as the noun’s instrumental form, retains a sense of acting or appearing "in the likeness of" something.

Usage notes

In modern Czech, the instrumental singular podobou tends to appear in older texts or in very formal registers. For everyday usage, speakers more often employ the adjective podobný to express similarity or the prepositional phrase v podobě (in the form of) to indicate a particular form or representation. Distinctions between podoba’s various cases can be subtle and depend on the surrounding syntactic structure.

Related terms

Podoba (appearance, likeness, form), podobný (similar, resembling), podobnost (similarity), and the adverb podobně (similarly).

See also

Podoba, podobný, podobnost, podobně. If you are looking for a specific usage or a historical example, providing the text or period can help pinpoint how podobou functions in that context.