In language structure a diminutive1 or diminutive form (abbreviated dim) is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning smallness of the object or quality named encapsulation intimacy or endearment.23 It is the opposite of an augmentative.

While many languages apply the grammatical diminutive to nouns a few also use it for adjectives and even other parts of speech.

Diminutives are often used for the purpose of expressing affection (see nickname and hypocoristic). In many languages the meaning of diminution can be translated "tiny" or "wee" and diminutives are used frequently when speaking to small children; adult people sometimes use diminutives when they express extreme tenderness and intimacy by behaving and talking like children. (See Apocopation).

In some languages diminutives are formed in a regular way by adding affixes to nouns and proper names; in English the alteration of meaning is often conveyed through clipping either alone or combined with an affix.1 English diminutives tend to be shorter and more colloquial than the basic form of the word; diminutives formed by adding affixes in other languages are often longer and not necessarily colloquial.

In many languages formation of diminutives by adding suffixes is a productive part of the language.2 All nouns not just proper nouns can be diminuted. The word "diminutive" is used in a narrower and less vague sense here than when referring to English. The basic meaning of diminution in these languages is "smallness of the object named"; endearment intimacy etc. is secondary and dependent on context. For example the name of one the last Roman emperors of the western part of the Roman EmpireRomulus Augustuswas diminuted to Romulus Augustulus (little Augustus) to emphasise the contrast between the grandness of the name and political insignificance of its bearer; in this case the connotation of diminution is derogatory not endearing. Contents 1 Indo-European languages 1.1 Germanic languages 1.1.1 English 1.1.1.1 English diminutives 1.1.2 Scots 1.1.3 Dutch 1.1.4 Afrikaans 1.1.5 German 1.1.5.1 Austro-Bavarian 1.1.5.2 Swabian 1.1.5.3 High Alemannic 1.1.5.4 Low German 1.1.6 Yiddish 1.1.7 Icelandic 1.1.8 Swedish 1.2 Romance languages 1.2.1 French 1.2.2 Italian 1.2.2.1 Italian loanwords 1.2.3 Latin 1.2.4 Portuguese 1.2.5 Romanian 1.2.6 Spanish 1.3 Baltic languages 1.3.1 Lithuanian 1.4 Slavic languages 1.4.1 Serbo-Croatian 1.4.2 Bulgarian 1.4.3 Czech 1.4.4 Polish 1.4.5 Russian 1.5 Celtic languages 1.5.1 Irish 1.5.2 Scottish Gaelic 1.6 Greek 1.6.1 Ancient Greek 1.6.2 Modern Greek 1.7 Indic languages 1.7.1 Haryanvi 1.7.2 Hindi 1.7.3 Marathi 1.7.4 Sinhala 1.8 Iranian languages 1.8.1 Persian 1.9 Armenian 2 Dravidian languages 2.1 Tamil 2.2 Telugu 3 Semitic languages 3.1 Arabic 3.2 Hebrew 4 Sino-Tibetan languages 4.1 Chinese 5 Turkic language 5.1 Turkish 6 Uralic languages 6.1 Estonian 6.2 Finnish 6.3 Hungarian 7 International auxiliary languages 7.1 Esperanto 7.2 Interlingua 8 Notes and references 9 See also Indo-European languages Germanic languages English

Productive diminutives are not common in Standard English in comparison with many other languages. For example one comparative study found that English uses diminutives infrequently in comparison with the Czech language.4 Nevertheless most dialects of English feature a fair lot of sidling and sibling diminutives. Terms such as "movie" for "moving picture" are oft-heard terms in English.

Sometimes a diminutive lengthens the original word e.g. "hottie" to denote sexually appealing (or "hot") young man or woman. (Note that analogous expressions in languages in which diminution is a regular part of the grammar would not be called diminutives.) Diminutives of first names are often encountered e.g. Maggie (from Margaret) Sally (from Sarah) or Suzie (from Suzanne); however they also function as nicknames.

English has also borrowed liberally from other languages when producing new diminutives: e.g. -ette is from French. However some of those lexicalized and in many contexts do not function as proper diminutives in modern English. English diminutives -k/-ock/-uck: balk bollock bullock buttock fetlock folk hark hillock jerk mark mattock (OE mattuc) milk mullock pillock smirk snack spark stalk talk whelk work yolk -n/-en/-on (accusative or feminine): burden chicken even heaven (OE heofon) kitten maiden morn oven steven vixen weapon (OE wpen) -le (defrequentative -l): beetle boodle chortle doodle (shares root with dude P doudo dolt dull dote dotterel) fizzle giggle kibble little mickle noodle oodle puddle riddle sparkle -ish (disparative): boyish fiftyish girlish largish mannish noonish reddish smallish tallish twelveish womanish -s (degenitive): Becks Betts Wills -sie/-sies/-sy (babytalk assimilative or from patrici- of Patsy): bitsy footsie (1930) halfsies onesies popsy (1860) teensy-weensy tootsie (1854) twosies Betsy Patsy Robsy -o (American devocative later Commonwealth): bucko daddio garbo kiddo smoko wacko Jacko Ricko -er/-ers/-ster (agentive intensive hypocoristic also elided rhotic -a): bonkers (1948) preggers (1940) starkers (1905) Beckers Lizzers Hankster Patster -a (Geordie assimilative -er): Gazza Macca -z (geordie degenitive -s): Bez Chaz Gaz

Loanwords: -ling (Norse defrequentative-patrinominative): darling duckling fingerling gosling underling -erel/-rel (Francish-Latin comparative pejorative -(t)eriale): cockerel (1450s) coistrel (1570s) doggerel (1249) dotterel (15th century) gangrel (14th century) hoggerel kestrel (15th century) mackerel (1300ish) minstrel (1180) mongrel (1540s) pickerel (1388) puckerel scoundrel (1589) suckerel taistrel (18th century N for E tearstrel: tear+-ster+-rel) tumbrel (1223) titterel/whimbrel (1520s) wastrel (1847) -el/-il/-ille/-l/-le (Norman-Francish lenite -c-/-g- or metathetic -i- dim. -iol-): broil (14th century; F brusle) broil (15th century; VL brodicula) griddle (1300ish ME gridel F gredil VL graticula; cognate with E hurdle) grille (1661) jail (1250s; F jaiole nF gaiole VL gabiola L caveola) mail (1320; L macula) pill (1400) quail (1300ish; ML quaccula) rail (1320; L regula) rail (1460; VL rasculum) rail (1450s; VL ragula) roll (1300ish) squirrel (1327) toil (1300ish; VL tudicula) trail (1300ish; VL tragula) -et/-ette/-etti/-etto/-it/-ita/-ito/-itta (F-S-I-L defrequentative -itat-): amaretto burrito cigarette clarinet courgette diskette fajita falsetto faucet (1400ish) gambit (1656) kitchenette marionette minuet oubliette palette pallet (1350s) parquet poppet (1300ish) puppet (16th century) rabbit (1380) Sagitta seorita spaghetti suffragette swallet (1660ish) taquito towelette wallet (1350s) -ot/-otte (F ablaut5 or assimilative dim.-defreq. -ultat-): culottes harlot (13th century) Charlotte Diderot Lancelot (1180) Margot Peugeot Pierrot -let/-lette (F dim.-defreq.): aglet (15th century) applet (1995) booklet (1859) chicklet (1886) eyelet (1400) gauntlet goblet hamlet (15th century) leaflet (1787) oillet (1350s) omelette (1611) piglet (1883) roulette (1734) tablet (1300ish) -ey/-ie/-y (Scottish-Dutch dim. 15th century-on): cookie (1703) daddy (1500ish) dearie doggy (1820) girlie (1942) kitty (16th century) laddie (1546) mammy (1520) mommy (1902) mummy (1820) sissy (1846) whitey (1820) Debbie Frankie Frenchy (1820) Johnny (1670) Marty Morty Nancy -kin (Dutch dim.-acc. -ken/-chen 15th century-on): bodkin cannikin catkin lambkin manikin napkin pannikin ramekin welkin (OE wolcen) -kins (hpocoristic dim.-degen.): Laurakins Sallykins -leus/-ola/-ole/-oli/-ola/-olo/-olus/-ula/-ule/-uleus/-ulum (Francish-Spanish-Italian-Latin dim. mainly 17th century-on): alveolus areola areole article cannoli casserole cerulean cuniculus curriculum Equuleus ferrule formula granule homunculus insula malleolus majuscule minuscule nodule nucleus nucleolus particle pergola pendulum pianola piccolo ravioli raviolo reticle reticule reticulum spatula tarantula vacuole vinculum vocable -eau/-el/-ella/-elle/-ello/-il/-illa/-ille/-illo/-le (F-S-I-L bidim.; E -kin): armadillo beau belle bordello bureau candle (OE candel <900) castle (OE castel <1000) codicil espadrille flotilla limoncello mantle Monticello morsel organelle pastel pencil pestle quadrille quarrel rowel (1344) scintilla vanilla violoncello -ina/-ine/-ini/-ino (F-S-I simulative mainly 1750s-on; E -like or -ling as adj. but cognate with -ing as n. or adj.): bambino coquina doctrine (1350s) domino farina figurine linguine maraschino marina neutrino palomino tambourine zucchini mini- (commercial miniature compound): minibar miniblind miniboss minibus minicar (1949) minicassette (1967) minicomputer (1963) minigame minigun minimall minimarket (1965) minimart mini-nuke minischool miniseries (1974) miniskirt (1965) minitower minivan miniver (1250) mini-LP mini-me MiniDisc Scots See also: List of English words of Scots origin In Lowland Scots diminutives are used much more frequently than in some other forms of English. The diminutive is formed by the suffix -ie -ock -ockie (double diminutive) or ag (the latter from Scottish Gaelic and probably influencing the other two before it). -ie is by far the most common prefix used. Examples include -ie: burnie (small burn) feardie or feartie (frightened person coward) gamie (gamekeeper) kiltie (kilted soldier) mannie (man) Nessie (Loch Ness Monster) postie (postman) wifie (woman) -ock: bittock (wee bit little bit) playock (toy) sourock (sorrel) -ag: Cheordag (Geordie) bairnag (small child) -ockie: hooseockie (little house) wifockie (little woman) Dutch In Dutch the diminutive is formed by adding one of the suffixes -je -tje -pje -etje -kje to the noun in question. Often the suffixes -ke -eke -ske -ie -kje are used in different dialects instead of the former mentioned but those are not used in official spelling with the exception of a word like "slapie"a buddy who one shares sleeping quarters with. In Dutch in addition to nouns diminutive forms of adjectives and adverbs may also be created: adjective: groen (green) groentje (lit. "little green" meaning rookie) adverbs: groen (green) groentjes (lit. "littly green" meaning greenish) net (neat) netjes zacht (soft) zachtjes Some nouns have two different diminutives each with a different meaning: bloem (flower) bloempje (lit. "small flower") bloem (flower) bloemetje (lit. also "small flower" but meaning bouquet) A few words also exist solely in a diminutive form e.g. zeepaardje ("seahorse") and sneeuwklokje ("Snowdrop"). See e.g. When used to refer to time the Dutch diminutive form can indicate whether the person in question found it pleasant or not. Na een uurtje gezellig gekletst te hebben met haar vriend ging het meisje naar huis. After chatting to her boyfriend for a little hour the girl went home. Afrikaans In Afrikaans the diminutive is formed by adding one of the suffixes -ie -pie -kie -'tjie -tjie -jie -etjie to the word depending on the latter's phonology (some exceptions exist to these rules): -ie for words ending in -f -g -k -p or -s: neef nefie (nephew) lag laggie (laugh) skaap skapie (sheep) -pie for words ending in -m: boom (tree) boompie -kie for words ending in -ing: koning (king) koninkie -tjie for words ending in -i -o or -u (usually borrowed from other languages): impi impitjie -jie for words ending in -d or -t: hoed hoedjie (hat) -etjie for CVC words ending in -b -l -m -n or -r: bal balletjie (ball) kam kammetjie (comb) kar karretjie (car) -tjie for most other words: soen soentjie (kiss) koei koeitjie (cow) appel appeltjie (apple) Diminutives of words that are themselves diminutives are used for example baadjietjie (little jacket). Such constructions do not appear in Dutch. Afrikaans has almost identical usage and grammar for diminutive words as Dutch the language Afrikaans was derived from. (detailed below) There are differences in Dutch as compared to Afrikaans. One is that suffixes end with -je (e.g. beetje a little bit mandje basket) as compared to -ie in Afrikaans (e.g. bietjie mandjiesame meanings respectively). This reflects the usage of -ie in the dialects of the province of Holland that most of Dutch settlers came from. An other difference is that in the Dutch language also adjectives and adverbs can be conjugated as diminutives as if they were nouns. Diminutives are widely used in both languages but much more so in the Afrikaans language. In some cases the diminutive in Afrikaans is the most commonly used or even only form of the word: bietjie mandjie and boontjie (bean). In other cases the diminutive may be used figuratively rather than literally to imply affection camaraderie euphemism sarcasm or disdain depending on context. German German features words such as "Huschen" for "small house" "Wrstchen" for "small sausage" "ein Bisschen" for "a little bit" and "Hndchen" for "small dog". Diminutives are more frequently used than in English. Some words only exist in the diminutive form e.g. "Kaninchen" ("rabbit" derived from the Latin diminutive cuniculus via the Old French word 'conin'). The use of diminutives is quite different between the dialects. The Alemannic dialects for example use the diminutive very often. Diminutives are always neutral as for grammatical gender regardless of the original word. For example the common German word for girl is das Mdchen which is neutral because it is a diminutive of die Maid (feminine) the maiden. While Mdchen is an everyday word Maid is hardly used nowadays and usually is associated with medieval language (as in fables novels etc.). There are two suffixes that can be systematically applied in German: -chen e.g. "Brtchen" for little bread (corresponding with English -kin as seen in "napkin" Low Saxon (Low German) and Dutch -je -tje -ke -ken and other forms depending on the dialect area) -lein e.g. "Mnnlein" for little man (corresponding with English -let and -ling Alemannic/Swabian -l (Spaetzl) -li (Hrnli) Bavarian and Austrian -l and Latin -culus'/-cula) Suffixation of the diminutive suffixes chen and lein to a finally stressed word stem causes umlaut of the stressed vowel. Austro-Bavarian In Bavarian and Austrian German the -l or -erl suffix can replace almost any usual German diminutive. For example the standard word for 'girl' in German is Mdchen and while Mdchen is still used frequently in Austrian German a more colloquial "cute" usage would be Mdl or Madl. It is regular for Austrians to replace the normal Bisschen ('a little' as in "Can I have a little more") with Bissl. This has become a very distinctive feature of Austrian German. A familiar example of the -erl diminutive is Nannerl the childhood name of Maria Anna Mozart the sister of the celebrated composer. Historically some common Austro-Bavarian surnames were also derived from (clipped) first names using the -l suffix; for example (Jo)hann > Hndl Man(fred) > Mndl (both with epenthetic d and umlaut) (Gott)fried > Friedl and so on.67 Swabian In Swabian German this is done by adding a -le suffix (the e being distinctly pronounced but not stressed). For example a small house would be a "Husle" or a little girl a "Mdle". A unique feature of Swabian is that not only nouns may be suffixed with -le which has no counterpart in other German dialects High German or other languages: wasele (diminutive of was what) or jetzetle (diminutive of jetzt now) or kommele (diminutive of kommen come). (In both Spanish and Italian these may be formed similarly e.g. igualito diminutive of igual same and pochino or pochettino - diminutive of poco a little/a few). Many variants of Swabian also have a plural diminutive suffix: -la. E.g.: "oi Mdle zwoi Mdla." High Alemannic In High Alemannic the standard suffix -li is added to the root word. A little would be s bitzli (literally a little bite) as to "ein bisschen" in Standard German. The dimunitive form of bitzli is birebitzli. Vowels of proper names often turn into an umlaut in Highest Alemannic whereas in High Alemannic it remains the same. Proper names: Christian becomes Chrigi in Highest Alemannic: Chrigu. Sebastien becomes Sebi resp. Sebu. Sabrina becomes Sabsi resp. Sbe. Corinne becomes Cogi resp. Cog. Barbara becomes Babsi resp. Babs Robert becomes Rbi resp. Rbu. Jakob becomes Kbi resp. Kbu. Gabriel becomes Gbu in Highest Alemannic. Low German In East Frisian Low Saxon -je -tje and -pje are used as a diminutive suffix (e.g. huis becomes huisje (little house); boom becomes boompje (little tree)). Compare this with the High German suffix -chen (see above). Some words have a slightly different suffix even though the diminutive always ends with -je. For example man becomes mannetje (little man). All these suffixes East Frisian Low Saxon shares with Dutch (detailed above). In other varieties of West Low German spoken in the east of the Netherlands diminutives occasionally use the umlaut in combination with the suffixes -gie(n): man mnnegie (EN: man little man) kom kmmegie (EN: bowl little bowl) In Northern Low Saxon the -je diminutive is rarely used except maybe Gronings such as in Buscherumpje a fisherman's shirt. It is usually substituted with ltte meaning "little" as in dat ltte Huus- the small house. The same goes for the North Germanic languages. Historically some common Low German surnames were derived from (clipped) first names using the -ke(n) suffix; for example Ludwig > Ldeke Wilhelm > Wilke(n) Wernher > Werneke and so on.8 Some of these name bases are difficult to recognize in comparison to standard German; for example Dumke Domke < Dm 'Thomas' Klitzke < Klitz 'Clement' etc. Yiddish Yiddish frequently uses diminutives. In Yiddish the primary diminutive is -l or -ele in singular and -lekh or -elekh in plural sometimes involving a vowel trade in the root. Thus Volf will become Velvl Khaim: Khaiml mame (mother): mamele Khane: Khanele Moyshe: Moyshele kind (child): kindl or kindele Bobe (grandmother): Bobele teyl (deal): teylekhl (mote) regn (rain): regndl hant (hand): hentl fus (foot): fisl. The longer version of the suffix (-ele instead of -l) sounds generally more affectionate and usually used with proper names. Sometimes a few variations of the plural diminutive forms are possible: balebos (owner boss): balebeslekh (newly-wed young men): balebatimlekh (petty bourgeois men). Many other diminutives of Slavic origin are commonly used mostly with proper names: -ke: Khaim/Khaimke Sore/Sorke Khaye/Khayke Avrom/Avromke bruder/bruderke (brother). These forms are usually considered nicknames and are only used with very close friends and relatives. -enyu: kale/kalenyu (dear bride) harts/hartsenyu (sweetheart) zeyde/zeydenyu (dear grandpa). Often used as an affectionate quasi-vocative. -tshik: Avrom/Avromtshik yungerman/yungermantshik (young man). -inke: tate/tatinke (dear daddy) baleboste/balebostinke (dear hostess). -ik: Shmuel/Shmulik Yisroel/Srolik. -tse or -tshe: Sore/Sortshe Avrom/Avromtshe Itsik/Itshe. -(e)shi: bobe/bobeshi (dear grandma) zun/zuneshi (dear son) tate/tateshi (dear daddy). -lebn: tate-lebn Malke-lebn. This particle might be considered a distinct compound word and not a suffix. These suffixes can also be combined: Khaim/Khaimkele Avrom/Avromtshikl Itsik/Itshenyu. Some Yiddish proper names have common non-trivial diminutive forms somewhat similar to English names such as Bob or Wendy: Akive/Kive Yishaye/Shaye Rivke/Rivele. Yiddish also has diminutive forms of adjectives (all the following examples are given in masculine single form): -lekh (-like): roytlekher (reddish) gelblekher (yellowish) zislekher (sweetish). -ink (-ling): roytinker (cute red) gelinker (cute yellow) zisinker (so-sweet). -tshik or -itshk: kleynitshker (teeny-tiney) altitshker (dear old). Some Yiddish diminutives have been incorporated into modern Israeli Hebrew: Imma (mother) to Immaleh and Abba (father) to Abbaleh. Icelandic A common diminutive suffix in Icelandic is -lingur: Examples: grs grslingur (English: pig piglet) bk bklingur (English: book pamphlet/booklet) jeppi jepplingur (English: jeep SUV) Swedish A common diminutive suffix in Swedish is -is: godsak godis (candy) daghem dagis (daycare centre/kindergarten) Note that the usage of -is is not limited to child-related or "cute" things. For instance kondom kdis (condom) permission permis (furlough) Romance languages French French diminutives can be formed with a wide range of endings. Often a consonant or phoneme is placed between the root word and the diminutive ending for phonetic purposes: porcelet < pourceau from lat. porcellus. Feminine nouns or names are typically made diminutive by adding the ending -ette: fillette (little girl or little daughter affectionate from fille girl or daughter); courgette (small squash or marrow q.e. zucchini from courge squash); Jeannette (from Jeanne); pommettes (cheekbones) from pomme (apple); cannette (female duckling) from cane (female duck). This ending has crossed over into English as well (e.g. kitchenette). Feminine nouns may also end in -elle (mademoiselle from madame). Masculine names or nouns may be turned into diminutives with the ending -ot -on or -ou (MF -eau) but sometimes for phonetic reasons an additional consonant is added (e.g. -on becomes -ton -ou becomes -nou etc.): Jeannot (Jonny) from Jean (John); Pierrot (Petey) from Pierre (Peter); chiot (puppy) from chien (dog); fiston (sonny or sonny-boy) from fils (son); caneton (he-duckling) from canard (duck or he-duck); chaton (kitten) from chat (cat); minou (kitty presumably from the root for miauler to meow); Didou (Didier); Philou or Filou (Philippe). Some masculine diminutives are formed with the masculine version of -ette: -et. For example: porcelet piglet from porc; oiselet fledgling from oiseau bird. However in many cases the names for baby animals are not diminutivesthat is unlike chaton/chat or chiot/chien they are not derived from the word for the adult animal: poulain foal (an adult horse is a cheval); agneau lamb (an adult is either a brebis female sheep or a blier male sheep). French is not unique in this but it is indicated here to clarify that not all names of animals can be turned into diminutives by the addition of diminutive endings. In Old French -et/-ette -in/-ine -el/-elle were often used as Adeline for Adele Maillet for Maill and so on. As well the ending -on was used for both genders as Alison and Guion from Alice and Guy respectively. The Germanic side of Vulgar Latin bore proper diminutives -oc and -uc which went into words such as L pocca and pucca to become F poche (pouch); -oche is in regular use to shorten words: cinma cinoche. Italian In Italian the diminutive is expressed by several derivational suffixes applied to nouns or adjectives to create new nouns or adjectives with variable meanings. The new word is then pluralized as a word in its own right. Such derived words often have no equivalent in other languages. -ello -ella: finestra finestrella (window little window) misero miserello (miserable); -etto -etta the most used one along with -ino: casa casetta (house little house) povero poveretto (poor) cane cagnetto (dog); -icchio -icchia mainly of regional use often pejorative: sole solicchio (sun weak sun); -ino -ina the most used one along with -etto: paese paesino (village little village); also in baby talk and after other suffixes: bello bellino (pretty) giovane giovanotto giovanottino (but there are no limits to suffixation which could continue); -otto -otta often attenuating: aquila aquilotto (eagle baby eagle) stupido stupidotto (stupid rather stupid); -uccio -uccia hypocoristic or pejorative (also in southern forms -uzzo -uzza). Such suffixes are of Latin origin except -etto and -otto which are of unclear origin.9 Moreover there are some additional hypocoristic suffixes which are used to create new adjectives from other adjectives (or sometimes from nouns): -iccio -igno -ognolo -occio (of Latin origina except the last one whose origin is unclear).10 Italian loanwords Examples which have made it into English are mostly culinary like linguine (named for its resemblance to little tongues ("lingue" in Italian)) and bruschetta. The diminution is often figurative: an operetta is similar to an opera but dealing with less serious topics. "Signorina" means "Miss"; with "signorino" (man) they have the same meanings as seorita and seorito in Spanish. The English demonstrative affixes would be ablauts of -one: -on -un -en (big-un littlun littl'un little-un); but this is colloquial and seldom. Latin Main article: Latin Wikipedia: Diminutivum (Latinum) In the Latin language the diminutive is formed also by suffixes of each gender affixed to the word stem. Each variant ending matches with a blend of the variant secondary demonstrative pronouns: In Old Latin ollus olla ollum; later ille illa illud (illum-da to set off ileum). -ulus -ula -ulum e.g. globulus (globule) from globus (globe). -culus -cula -culum e.g. homunculus (so-small man) from homo (man) -olus -ola -olum e.g. malleolus (small hammer) from malleus (hammer) -ellus -ella -ellum e.g. libellus (little book) smaller than librulus (small book) from liber (book) Similarly the diminutive of gladius (sword) is gladiolus a plant whose leaves look like small swords. Adjectives as well as nouns can be diminished including paululus (very small) from paulus (small). The diminutive ending for verbs is -ill- placed after the stem and before the endings. The diminutive verb changes to the first conjugation no matter what the original conjugation. Conscribere "write onto" is third-conjugation but the diminutive conscribillare "scribble over" is first-conjugation. The Anglicisation of Latin diminutives is relatively common especially in medical terminology. In nouns the most common conversion is removal of the -us -a -um endings and trading them for a mum e. Hence some examples are vacuole from vacuolum particle from particula and globule from globulus. Portuguese In Portuguese diminutives can be formed with a wide range of endings but the most common diminutives are formed with the suffixes -(z)inho -(z)inha replacing the masculine and feminine endings -o and -a respectively. The variants -(z)ito and -(z)ita direct analogues of Spanish -(c)ito and -(c)ita are also common in some regions. The forms with a z are normally added to words that end in stressed vowels such as caf cafezinho. Some nouns have slightly irregular diminutives. Noun diminutives are widely used in the vernacular. Occasionally this process is extended to pronouns (pouco a little pouquinho or poucochinho a very small amount) adjectives (e.g. bobo bobinho meaning respectively "silly" and "a bit silly"; s sozinho both meaning "alone" or "all alone") adverbs (depressinha "quickly") and even verbs (correndo correndinho both of which mean "running" but the latter with an endearing connotation). Romanian Romanian uses suffixes to create diminutives most of these suffixes being of Latin or Slaviccitation needed origin. Not only names but adjectives adverbs and pronouns can have diminutives as well as in Portuguese Polish and Russian. Feminine suffixes -ia (jucrie / jucria toy) -ic (bucat / bucic piece) -ioar (inim / inimioar heart) -ioar (ar / rioar country) -i (fat / feti girl) -uc (ra / ruc duck) -u (bunic / bunicu grandmother) Masculine suffixes -a (iepure / iepura rabbit) -el (biat / bieel boy) -ic (tat / ttic father) -ior (dulap / dulpior locker) -ior (pui / puior chicken) -ule (urs / ursule bear) -u (cel / celu dog) -u (pat / ptu bed) Adjectives frumos > frumuel (beautiful ; pretty) Adverbs repede > repejor (fast ; quite fast) Pronouns dumneata (you polite form) > mata > mtlu (used to address children respectfully in a non-familial context) nimic ( nothing)> nimicua niel (a little something) Spanish See also: Spanish naming customs Spanish is a language rich in diminutives and uses suffixes to create them: -ito/-ita words ending in -o or -a (rata "rat" ratita. Ojo "eye" ojito. Cebolla "onion" cebollita) -cito/-cita words ending in -e or consonant (len "lion" leoncito. Caf "coffee" cafecito) -illo/-illa (flota; "fleet" flotilla. Guerra "war" guerrilla. Cmara "chamber" camarilla) -ico/-ica words ending in -to and -tro (plato "plate" platico) -n/-ina (pequeo/a "little" pequen(a). Muchacho/a "boy" muchachn(a)) -ete/-eta (Pandero "tambourine" pandereta). Other less common suffixes are -uelo/-uela (pollo "chicken" polluelo) -zuelo/-zuela pejorative (ladrn "thief" landronzuelo) -uco/-uca (nene "children" nenuco) -ucho/-ucha pejorative (mdico "doctor" medicucho) -ijo/-ija (lagarto "lizard" lagartija) -izno/-izna (lluvia "rain" llovizna) -ajo/-aja (miga "crumb" migaja) -ino/-ina (niebla "fog" neblina). Some speakers use a suffix in a word twice which gives a more affectionate sense to the word. chico "boy" chiquito chiquitito/a chiquitico/a chiquitn(a). pie "foot" piecito piececito piececillo. Sometimes alternating different suffixes can change the meaning. (La) mano "hand" manita (or manito) "little hand" or manilla or manecilla "hand (clock)". Baltic languages Lithuanian Lithuanian is known for its array of diminutive forms. Diminutives are generally constructed with suffixes applied to the noun stem. By far the most common are those with -elis/-el or -lis/-l. Others include: -ukis/-uk -ulis/-ul -uis/-u -utis/-ut -ytis/-yt etc. Suffixes may also be compounded e.g.: -uis + -lis -ulis. In addition to denoting small size and/or endearment they may also function as amplificatives (augmentatives) pejoratives (deterioratives) and to give special meanings depending on context.11 Lithuanian diminutives are especially prevalent in poetic language such as folk songs. Examples: uolas (oak) uollis uoliukas brolis (brother) brolelis broliukas brolytis broluis brolulis brolutytis broliuklis etc. klevas (maple) klevelis klevukas klevutis pakaln (slope) pakalnut (Lily-of-the-valley Convallaria) saul (sun) saulel saulyt saulut saulu saulul etc. svognas (onion) svognlis (bulb) vadovas (leader) vadovlis (textbook manual) Slavic languages Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian uses suffixes -i -i for diminutives of masculine nouns -ica for feminine nouns and names and -ce -ace for neuter nouns. Feminine: aba (frog) abica lopta (ball) loptica patka (duck) patkica Ana (Anne) Ankica Masculine: konj (horse) konji sin (son) sini nos (nose) nosi Neuter: pero (feather) perce sunce (sun) sunace jezero (lake) jezerce Bulgarian See also: Bulgarian language#Diminutives and augmentatives Bulgarian has an extended diminutive system. Masculine nouns have a double diminutive form. The first suffix that can be added is - (-che). At this points the noun has become neuter because of the -e ending. The - (-ntse) suffix can further extend the diminutive (It is still neuter again due to the -e ending). A few examples: kufar (suitcase) kufarche kufarchentse nozh (knife) nozhche nozhchentse stol (chair) stolche stolchentse Feminine nouns can have up to three different independent forms (though some of them are used only in colloquial speech): zhena (woman) zhenica zhenichka riba (fish) ribka ribchitsa saksiya (flowerpot) saksiyka saksiychitsa glava (head) glvitsa glavichka Note that the suffixes can be any of - (-ka) - (-chka) and - (-tsa). Neuter nouns usually have one diminutive variant formed by adding variations of - (-tse): dete (child) detentse zhito (wheat grain) zhittse sluntse (sun) slunchitse Adjectives have forms for each grammatical gender and these forms have their corresponding diminutive variant. The used suffixes are - (-uk) for masculine - (-ka) for feminine and - (-ko) for neuter: maluk (small) munichuk malka munichka malko munichko golyam (big) golemichuk golyam golemichka golyamo golemichko Czech In Czech diminutives are formed by suffixes as in other Slavic languages. Common endings include -ka -ko -ek -k -inka -enka -eka -ika -ul- -unka -ek -nek etc. The choice of suffix may depend on the noun's gender as well as the degree of smallness/affection that the speaker wishes to convey. Czech diminutives can express smallness affection and familiarity. Hence "Petk" may well mean "our" "cute" "little" or "beloved" Peter. Some suffixes generally express stronger familiarity (or greater smallness) than others. The most common examples are the pairs -ek and -eek ("domek" small house "domeek" very small house) and -k and -ek ("Petk" small or beloved Peter "Petek" very small or cute Peter) -ko and -eko ("prko" small feather "preko" very small feather) and -ka and -ika/-eka ("tlapka" small paw "tlapika" very small paw; "peinka" small duvet "peineka" very small duvet). However some words already have the same ending as if they were diminutives but they aren't. In such cases only one diminutive form is possible e.g. "koka" (notice the -ka ending) means "cat" (of normal size) "koika" means "small cat". Every noun has a grammatically-correct diminutive form regardless of the sense it makes. This is sometimes used for comic effect for example diminuting the word "obr" (giant) to "obk" (little giant). Speakers also tend to use longer endings which are not grammatically correct to express even stronger form of familiarity or cuteness for example "mimineko" (very small and cute baby) instead of correct "miminko" and "mimineko". Such expressions are generally understood but are used almost exclusively in emotive situations in spoken language and are only rarely written. Some examples. Note the various stem mutations due to palatalisation vowel shortening or vowel lengthening: /-ka/ (feminine noun forms) tta (dad) taka (daddy) Anna Anka hora (mountain) hrka (a very small mountain or big hill) noha (leg foot) noka (a little leg such as on a small animal) /-ko/ (neuter noun forms) rdio rdijko vno (wine) vnko triko (T-shirt) triko pero (feather) prko oko (eye) oko /-ek/ (masculine noun forms) dm (house) domek stl (table) stolek schod (stair/step) schdek prostor (space) prostrek strom (tree) stromek /-k/ Tom (Tom) Tomk (little/cute/beloved Tom Tommy) pokoj (room) pokojk kl (stake/pole) kolk rum (rum) rumk ko (basket) kok Polish In Polish diminutives can be formed of nouns adjectives adverbs and some other parts of speech. They literally signify physical smallness or lack of maturity but usually convey attitude in most cases affection. In some contexts they may be condescending or ironic. Diminutives can cover a significant fraction of child's speech during the time of language acquisition.12 For adjectives and adverbs diminutives in Polish are grammatically separate from comparative forms. There are multiple affixes used to create the diminutive. Some of them are -ka -czka -ka -szka -cia -sia -unia -enka -lka for feminine nouns and -ek -yk -ciek -czek -czyk -szek -u -u -eki -lki for masculine words and -czko -ko for neuter nouns among others. The diminutive suffixes may be stacked to create forms going even further for example malusieki is considered even smaller than malusi or maleki. Similarly koteczek (little kitty) is derived from kotek (kitty) which is itself derived from kot (cat). Note that in this case the suffix -ek is used twice but changes to ecz once due to palatalization. There are also diminutives that lexicalized e.g. stoek (chair) which is grammatically a diminutive of st (table). In many cases the possibilities for creation of diminutives are seemingly endless and leave place to create many neologisms. Some examples of common diminutives: Feminine aba (frog) abka abcia abusia abeka abuleka abeczka abunia crka (daughter) creczka crunia crcia (Originally crka was created as diminutive from cra which nowadays isn't in common use.) kaczka (duck) kaczuszka kaczusia kaczunia Katarzyna (Katherine) Kasia Kaka Kasieka Kasiunia Kasiulka Kasiuleczka Kasiuneczka Anna (Anna) Ania Anka Acia Anusia Anuka Aneczka Anulka Anuleczka Magorzata (Margaret) Magorzatka Magosia Magoka Gosia Gosieka Gosiunia Gosiula Masculine chopak (boy) chopczyk chopaczek chopiec (Originally chopak was created as diminutive from Old Polish chop which nowadays means "peasant".) kot (cat) kotek koteczek kocitko kociak kociaczek kotu kotunio13 Grzegorz (Gregory) Grze Grzesiek Grzesio Grzesiu Micha (Michael) Michaek Micha Misiek Michasiek Michaszek Misiu Piotr (Peter) Piotrek Piotru Piotrusiek Tomasz (Thomas) Tomek Tomu Tomcio Tomeczek Tomaszek ptak (bird) ptaszek ptaszeczek pta ptasitko Neuter piro (feather) pirko pireczko serce (heart) serduszko serdeko mleko (milk) mleczko wiato (light) wiateko soce (sun) soneczko sonko Plural kwiaty (flowers) kwiatki kwiatuszki kwiateczki Adjectives may (small) (masculine) maleki malusi malutki maluki malusieki maa (small) (feminine) maleka malusia malutka maluka malusieka zielony (green) (masculine) zieloniutki zielonkawy (greenish) (masculine) zieloniutkawy mikkie (soft) (neuter) miciutkie Adverbs prdko (fast) prdziutko prdziuteko prdziuko prdziusieko13 prdzej (faster) prdziusiej fajnie fajniusio super supcio Verbs paka (to weep) pakunia pakucia pakusia13 Russian Russian has a wide variety of diminutive forms for names to the point that for non-Russian speakers it can be difficult to connect a nickname to the original. Diminutive forms for nouns are usually distinguished with - - - (-ik -ok -iok masculine gender) -- -- -o- or -- (-chk- -shk- -on'k- -en'k-) infixes and suffixes. For example (voda water) becomes (vodichka affectionate name of water) (kot male cat) becomes (kotik affectionate name) (koshka female cat) becomes (koshechka affectionate name) (solntse sun) becomes (solnyshko). Often there are many diminutive forms for one word: (mama mom) becomes (mamochka affectionate sense) (mamulia affectionate and playful sense) (mamen'ka affectionate and old-fashioned) (mamania affectionate but disdainful) - all of them have different hues of meaning which are hard to understand for a foreigner but are very perceptible for a native speaker. Sometimes you can combine several diminutive suffixes to make several degrees of diminution: (pirog a pie) becomes (pirozhok a small pie or an affectionate name) which then may become (pirozhochek a very small pie or an affectionate name). The same with (syr cheese) (syrok an affectionate name or a name of a small packed piece of cheese see the third paragraph) (syrochek an affectionate name). In both cases the first suffix - changes to when the suffix - is added. Often formative infixes and suffixes look like diminutuve ones. The well known word (vodka) has the suffix -ka which is not a diminutive but formative the word has completely different meaning (not water but a drink) and has its own diminutive suffix -ochka: (vodochka) is an affectionate name of vodka (compare voda - vodichka). There are may examples of this kind: (sota a honeycomb) and (sotka one hundred sqr. meter) (truba a tube) and (trubka a special kind of a tube: telephone receiver TV tube tobacco pipe - in all these cases there is no diminutive sense). However also means a small tube (depending on context). But most of the time you can tell diminutive particle from formative by simply omitting the suffix. If the meaning of a word remains the suffix is diminutive. For example: (kuchka a small pile) -> (kucha a pile) - the general meaning remains it is a diminutive form but (tachka wheelbarrow) -> (tacha no such word) - the general meaning changes it is not a diminutive form (potolok ceiling) -> (potol no such word) - the same with masculine gender. There is one more peculiarity. For example the word (kon' a male horse) has a diminutive form (koniok). But (koniok) also means a skate (ice-skating no diminutive sense in this case) and has another diminutive form (koniochek a small skate). The word also means a gable with no diminutive sense. Adjectives and adverbs can also have diminutive forms with infix -- (-en'k-): (siniy blue) becomes (sinen'kiy) (bystro quickly) becomes (bystren'ko). In case of adjectives the use of diminutive form is aimed to intensify the effect of diminutive form of a noun. Diminutive forms of adverbs are used to express either benevolence in the speech or on the contrary to express superciliousness depending on the inflection of a whole phrase. Some diminutives of proper names among many others: Feminine Anastasia Nastia (as in Nastia Liukin) Nasten'ka Anna Anya An'ka Anka Anechka Annushka Aniuta Irina Ira Irka Irochka Natalya Natasha Natashka Natashen'ka Tatyana Tania Tan'ka Tanechka Taniusha Yelizaveta Liza Lizochka Lizka Lizon'ka Yekaterina Katia Katiusha Katen'ka Kat'ka Katechka Yevgeniya Zhenia Zhen'ka Zhenechka Masculine Aleksander Sasha Sashka Sashen'ka Sashechka Aleksey Aliosha (as in Alyosha Popovich) Alioshka Alioshen'ka Lyosha Lyoshka Lyoshen'ka Andrei Andriusha Andriushka Andriushechka Dmitriy Dima Mitia Dimka Dimushka Dimochka Miten'ka Ivan Vanya Van'ka Vanechka Vaniusha Vaniushka Ivanushka Mikhail Misha Mishka Mishen'ka Mishechka Pyotr Petia Pet'ka Peten'ka Petiunia Sergey Seriozha Seriozhka Seriozhen'ka Vladimir Volodya Voloden'ka Vova Vovka Vovochka Celtic languages Irish In the Irish language diminutives are formed by adding -n and sometimes -n. Rs (Rose) > Risn (Rosalie Rosaleen) Sen > Seinn (Johnny) Samas > Samaisn Jimn Pdraig > Pidn (Paddy) bthar (road) > bithrn (country lane) cailleach (old woman hag witch) > cailn (girl) origin of the name Colleen < Old Irish 'caille' < Latin 'pallium' 'cloak' fear (man) > firn also feairn (little man) teach also tigh (house) > tign also teaichn cloch (stone) > cloichn (pebble) srid (street) > sridn (lane alleyway) sipal (chapel) > sipiln (small chapel) This suffix is also used to create the female equivalent of some male names: Pdraig > Pdraign (Patricia) Gearid (Gerald/Gerard) > Gearidn (Geraldine) Pl (Paul) > Piln (Paula) -n as a diminutive suffix is much less frequent nowadays (though it was used extensively as such in Old Irish): leabhar (book) > leabhrn (booklet manual handbook) cnoc (hill) > cncn (hillock) Scottish Gaelic In Scottish Gaelic diminutives are used much more frequently than in English. This is a feature that it shares with Scots language and may have influenced the suffixes "-ag" and "-ock" in that language. The most common diminutives are -(e)ag feminine: Mor ("Sarah") Morag Loch Nis (Loch Ness) Niseag ("Nessie") -(e)an masculine: loch lochan bodach (old man) bodachan (mannikin) Greek Ancient Greek Several diminutive derivational suffixes existed in Ancient Greek. The most common ones were -- --/-- --- ---.14 original noun diminutive bblos "papyrus" biblon "paper" "book" nthrpos "person" anthrpskos "manikin" xphos "sword" xiphdion "dagger" - paid-15 "child" paidrion "little child" Modern Greek Diminutives are very common in Modern Greek. Literally every noun has its own diminutive. They express either small size or affection: size -aki (/spiti "house" /spitaci "little house"; /lathos "mistake" /lathaci "negligible mistake") or affection -ula (/mana "mother" /manula "mommy"). The most common suffixes are -/-acis and -/-ulis for the male gender -/-itsa and -/-ula for the female gender and -/-aci for the neutral gender. Several of them are common as suffixes of surnames originally meaning the offspring of a certain person e.g. /Papas "priest" with /Papadacis as the surname. Indic languages Haryanvi In Haryanvi proper nouns are made diminutive with 'u' (unisex) 'da' (masculine) 'do' (masculine) and 'di' (feminine). This is of course most often applied to children's names though lifelong nicknames can result: Bharat Bhartu demonstrates the use of 'u' for a male Vaishali Vishu demonstrates the use of 'u' for a female Amit Amitada demonstrates the use of 'da' for a male Vishal Vishaldo demonstrates the use of 'da' for a male Sunita Sunitadi demonstrates the use of 'u' for a male Hindi In Hindi proper nouns are made diminutive with -u. This is of course most often applied to children's names though lifelong nicknames can result: Rajiv Raju Anita Neetu Anjali Anju Marathi In Marathi masculine proper nouns are made diminutive with -ya or -u while feminine proper nouns use -u and sometimes -ee. This is of course most often applied to children's names though lifelong nicknames can result. Maculine : Abhijit () Abhya () Rajendra () Rajya () Raju () Feminine : Ashwini () Ashu () Namrata () Namee () Namu () Sinhala In Sinhala proper nouns are made diminutive with -a after usually doubling the last pure consonant or adding -ya. Rajitha Rajja Romesh Romma Sashika Sashsha Ramith Ramiya Iranian languages Persian The most frequently used Persian diminutives are -cheh (-) and -ak (-). Bgh (garden) bghcheh (small garden) Mard (man) mardak (this fellow) Other less used ones are -izeh and -zheh. Rang (colour) rangizeh (pigment) Ny (pipe) nyzheh (small pipe bronchus) Armenian Armenian diminutive suffixes are -ik -ak and -uk. Dravidian languages Tamil Ramanathan Ramalingam: Ramu Adhiseshan: Seshu Somanathan Somaskanthan: Somu SuryaNarayanan: Surya Sivalingam: Siva Nanthakumar Nandikesan: Nandhu Padmini: Padi Telugu Srinivas : Seenu Semitic languages Arabic In Modern Standard Arabic the usual diminutive pattern is FuayL (CuCayC) with or without the feminine -ah added: kt "fort" kuwayt "little fort" hirra "cat" hurayrah "kitten" In certain varieties of Arabic reduplication of the last syllable is also used (similarly to Hebrew) as in: Batta "duck" Batbota "small-duck" Hebrew Modern Hebrew employs a reduplication pattern of its last syllable to mark diminutive forms. klev (dog) : klavlv (doggie) khatl (cat) : khataltl (kitty) batsl (onion) : b'tsaltsl (shallot) adm (red) : adamdm (reddish) dag (fish) : dagg (small fish) sak (sack) : sakk (sachet; e.g. 'sakk te' a tea bag) Also the suffixes -on and -it sometimes mark diminutive forms; the former is masculine and the latter is feminine. kva (hat) : kovan (small cap also means condom) yled (child) : yaldn ("kid") sak (sack) : sakt (bag; e.g. 'sakt plstik' a plastic bag) kaf (spoon) : kapt (teaspoon) Names can be made diminutive by substituting the last syllable for suffixes such as "-ik" "-i" or "-le" sometimes slightly altering the name for pronunciation purposes. At times a syllable can be omitted to create an independent diminutive name to which any of the suffixes mentioned earlier can be applied. In some cases reduplication works as well. Ari  : ri Aril  : rik Mikhal  : Mkha Aharn  : (ha)rale ' or Rn which in turn can produce Rni Davd  : Ddu which in turn can produce Ddi Sino-Tibetan languages Chinese Personal names in Chinese excluding the family name are usually two characters in length. Often the first of the two characters is omitted and replaced with the prefix character xio- literally meaning "little" or - (more prevalent in Southern China) to produce an affectionate diminutive name. For example famous Cantopop singer Lau Tak-Wah (Andy Lau; Li Dhu) could use the nicknames Xiohu or hu. Sometimes "-z" is also used as a diminutive suffix.16 In the Cantonese dialect the suffix (Jyutping: zai2) is used after the second character in the individual's given name. Again using the name of famous Cantopop singer Lau Tak-Wah (Andy Lau; Li Dhu) the nickname he could (and does in fact) use in Hong Kong is (Jyutping: waa4 zai2). A very distinctive characteristic of the Beijing dialect is the usage of "er"() suffix to a word or commonly known as erhua(). The "er" suffix indicates a phonological process that adds r-coloring or the "r" () sound as it demunitize the associated word. For example (xiohi) (small child) will be pronounced as (xiohir) in Beijing dialect. Turkic language Turkish See also Turkish grammar Turkish diminutive suffixes are -cik and -ceiz and variants thereof as dictated by the vowel harmony rules of Turkish grammar. -cik is applied in cases of endearment and affection in particular toward infants and young children by exaggerating qualities such as smallness and youth whereas -ceiz is used in situations of compassion and empathy especially when expressing sympathy toward another person in times of difficulty. Note the effects of vowel harmony in the following examples: ky (village) kyceiz (dear little village) kadn (woman) kadncaz (poor dear woman) ocuk (child) ocukcaz (poor dear child) kedi (cat) kedicik (cute little cat) gl (laugh) glck (giggles/cute little laugh) Mehmet (a common male name) Mehmetik (literally little/young Mehmet but also used as an affectionate term for Turkey's soldiers see also Mehmetik) Uralic languages Estonian The diminutive suffixes of Estonian "-kene" in its long form but can be shortened to "-ke". In all grammatical cases except for the nominative and partitive singular the "-ne" ending becomes "-se". It is fully productive and can be used with every word. Some Words such as "pike(ne)" (sun) "vike(ne)" (little) or "pisike(ne)" (tiny) are diminutive in their basic form the diminutive suffix cannot be removed from these words. The Estonian diminutive suffix can be used recursively - it can be attached to a word more than once. Forms such as "pisikesekesekene" having three diminutive suffixes are grammatically legitimate. As is demonstrated by the example in recursive usage all but the last diminutive "-ne" suffix become "-se" as in forms inflected by case. Finnish The diminutive suffixes of Finnish "-ke" "-kka" and "-nen" are not universal and cannot be used on every noun. The feature is common in Finnish surnames f.e. 'Jokinen' could translate 'Streamling' but since this form is not used in speaking about streams the surname could also mean 'lands by the stream' or 'lives by the stream'. Double diminutives also occur in certain words f.e. lapsukainen (child not a baby anymore) lapsonen (small child) lapsi (child). Examples: -ke: haara (branch) haarake (little branch) nimi (name) nimike (label tag) -kka: peni (dog (archaic)) penikka (whelp pup) nen (nose) nenukka (little nose) -nen: lintu (bird) lintunen (little bird) poika (boy son) poikanen (little boy animal offspring) Hungarian Hungarian uses the suffixes -ka/ke and -cska/cske to form diminutive nouns. The suffixes -i and -csi may also be used with names. However you traditionally cannot have the diminutive form of your name registered officially in Hungary (although a few of the most common diminutive forms have been registered as possible legal first names in the past years). Nouns formed this way are considered separate words (as all words that are formed using kpz type suffixes). They may not even be grammatically related to the base word only historically whereas the relation has been long forgotten. Some examples: Animals -us: kutya kutyus (dog) cica cicus (cat) -ci: medve maci (bear) borj boci (calf) Names -i: Jnos (John) Jani Jlia Juli Kata Kati Mria Mari Sra Sri -csi: Jnos Jancsi -ika/ike: Jlia Julika Mria Marika -iska/iske: Jlia Juliska Mria Mariska -us: Bla Blus -ci: Bla Bci Lszl Laci Jlia Juci -c: Ferenc Fec Jzsef Joc -tya: Pter Petya Zoltn Zotya -nyi: Sndor (Alexander) Sanyi Note that these are all special diminutive suffixes. The universal -ka/ke and -cska/cske can be used to create further diminutive forms e.g. kutyuska (little doggy) cicuska (little kitty). Theoretically more and more diminutive forms can be created this way e.g. kutyuskcskcska (little doggy-woggy-snoggy). Of course this is not a common practice; the preferred translations are kutyulimutyuli (doggy-woggy) and cicamica (kitty-witty). In some cases the diminutive suffix has become part of the basic form. These are no longer regarded as diminutive forms: Animals: cinke (tit) rka (fox) cska (jackdaw) szarka (magpie) pulyka (turkey) csirke (chicken) You can use the adjectives kicsi or kis (little) to create diminutive forms of these nouns e.g. kicsi macska or kismacska (kitten). International auxiliary languages Esperanto See also Esperanto word formation. For generic use (for living beings and inanimate objects) Esperanto has a single diminutive suffix -et. domo (house) dometo (cottage) varma (warm) varmeta (lukewarm) knabo (boy) knabeto (little boy) For personal names and familial forms of address the affixes -nj- and -j- are used for females and males respectively. Unusually for Esperanto the "root" is often shortened in an unpredictable manner before being added to. Patrino (Mother) Panjo (Mum Mom) Mario/Maria (Mary Maria) Manjo Marinjo Sofio/Sofia (Sophie Sophia) Sonjo Sofinjo Patro (Father) Pajo (Dad Daddy) Johano (John Johann) Johanjo Jojo (Jack Johnny) Vilhelmo (William Wilhelm) Vilheljo Vilhejo Viljo Vijo (Willy Bill Billy) Whereas languages such as Spanish may use the diminutive to denote offspring as in "perrito" (pup) Esperanto has a dedicated and regular suffix "-id" used for this purpose. Thus "hundeto" means "little dog" (such as a dog of a small breed) while "hundido" means a dog who is not yet fully grown. Interlingua See also Free word-building in Interlingua. Interlingua has a single diminutive suffix -ett for diminutives of all sorts. Johannes (John) Johannetto (Johnny) camera (chamber room) cameretta (little room) pullo (chicken) pulletto (chick) Use of this suffix is flexible and diminutives such as mama and papa may also be used. To denote a small person or object many Interlingua speakers simply use the word parve or small: parve can small dog parve arbore small tree Notes and references a b Beyond the diminutive form of a single word a diminutive can be a multi-word name such as "Tiny Tim" or "Little Dorrit". a b "The Standards Site: Glossary - D to F" Crown Copyright 1997-2008 webpage: Gov-UK-Glossary-DEF. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 6th edition CHAMONIKOLASOV Jana - RAMBOUSEK Ji. Diminutive expressions in translation: a comparative study of English and Czech. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 21 Amsterdam John Benjamins Publishing Company The Nederlands. ISSN 2007 vol. 21 no. 1 pp. 51-67. Abstract Albert J. Carnoy (1917). Apophony and Rhyme Words: III. The Suffixes: -ittus -attus -ottus -iccus -accus -occus. Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 278284. http://books.google.com/booksid3ovPAAAAMAAJ&pgPA278.  Schiffmann Konrad. 1922. Das Land ob der Enns: eine altbaierische Landschaft in den Namen ihrer Siedlungen; Berg Flsse und Seen. Munich: Oldenbourg p. 133. Schmeller Johann Andreas. 18721877. Bayerisches Wrterbuch. Munich: Oldenbourg p. 1738. Hirt Herman. 1968. Etymologie der neuhochdeutschen Sprache. Munich: C. H. Beck p. 365. Luca Serianni Grammatica italiana UTET 1989. XV.70-75. Luca Serianni Grammatica italiana UTET 1989. XV.54. Studies on word-formation in Lithuanian (1944-1974) Antanas Klimas University of Rochester Ewa Haman EARLY PRODUCTIVITY IN DERIVATION. A CASE STUDY OF DIMINUTIVES IN THE ACQUISITION OF POLISH" Psychology of Language and Communication 2003 Vol. 7 No. 1 (pdf) a b c Jan Miodek "PIENIKI DLA MAONKI" Wiedza i Zycie 1 1998. http://archiwum.wiz.pl/1998/98013200.asp (copy) Herbert Weir Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges. page 235 paragraph 852: diminutives. http://books.google.com/booksidY9B4IgAACAAJ&dqChinese+jerry+norman See also Look up diminutive in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Augmentative Hypocoristic Affect (linguistics)