Proto-Altaic: *pi̯ŭ̀č`à
Meaning: to tear, split, cut
Russian meaning: раздирать, расщеплять, резать
Comments: EAS 144, KW 47, ОСНЯ 1, 178. In Turk. also OT biče 'small', Tuva biče id. Cf. also MKor. pčằ- 'to wring out, squeeze' (SKE 18); MKor. pči- 'to cut' (SKE 32); mod. pit-ta (piǯ-) 'cut, slice'. Doerfer's (TMN 2, 427) doubts are hardly justified - the semantic development in Mong. is perfectly well explainable. One should note, however, that low tone in Jpn. does not correspond to Mong. *b- here (one would rather expect *h-); either this is an incorrect tone notation (the Jpn. word is attested in RJ, but not accented in Hirayama's dictionary), or an irregularity in an expressive etymon.
