A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle something or someone. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-formation device used to express such meanings. A is a diminutive form with two diminutive suffixes rather than one.

Purpose

Diminutives are often employed as nicknames and pet names when speaking to small children and when expressing extreme tenderness and intimacy to an adult. The opposite of the diminutive form is the augmentative. In some contexts, diminutives are also employed in a

pejorative A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hosti ...

sense to denote that someone or something is weak or childish. For example, one of the last Western Roman emperors was Romulus Augustus, but his name was diminutivized to "Romulus Augustulus" to express his powerlessness.

Formation

In many languages, diminutives are word forms that are formed from the root word by affixation. In most languages, diminutives can also be formed as multi-word constructions such as " Tiny Tim", or "Little Dorrit". In most languages that form diminutives by affixation, this is a productive part of the language. For example, in Spanish can be a nickname for someone who is overweight, and by adding an suffix, it becomes which is more affectionate. Examples for a double diminutive having two diminutive suffixes are in Polish → → or Italian → → ). In English, the alteration of meaning is often conveyed through clipping, making the words shorter and more colloquial. Diminutives formed by adding

affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. The main two categories are Morphological derivation, derivational and inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes, such as ''un-'', ''-ation' ...

es in other languages are often longer and (as colloquial) not necessarily understood. While many languages apply a grammatical diminutive to

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

s, a few – including Slovak, Dutch, Spanish, Romanian,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Polish, Bulgarian, Czech, Russian and Estonian – also use it for

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

s (in Polish: → → ) and even other parts of speech (Ukrainian → → — to sleep or Slovak → → — to sleep, → — to run). Diminutives in

isolating language Social isolation, Isolation is the near or complete lack of social contact by an individual. Isolation or isolated may also refer to: Sociology and psychology *Social isolation *Isolation (psychology), a defense mechanism in psychoanalytic theo ...

s may grammaticalize strategies other than suffixes or prefixes. In

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, for example, other than the nominal prefix 小- ''xiǎo-'' and nominal suffixes -儿/-兒 ''-r'' and -子 ''-zi'', reduplication is a productive strategy, e.g., → and → . In formal Mandarin usage, the use of diminutives is relatively infrequent, as they tend to be considered to be rather colloquial than formal. Some Wu Chinese dialects use a tonal affix for nominal diminutives; that is, diminutives are formed by changing the tone of the word.

English examples

* ''Charlie'' from Charles * ''Chuck'' from Charles * ''darling'' from dear * ''duckling'' or ''duckie'' from duck * ''cygnet'' from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''cigne''; French ''cygne'' (both: swan) * ''kitten'' from Middle English ''kitoun'', Old French ''chitoun'', diminutive of ''chat'', cat * ''ringlet'' from ring * ''doggie'' from dog * ''fishie'' from fish

References

{{Authority control Linguistic morphology *

Purpose

Formation

English examples

See also

References