diminutive

See also: Diminutive

English

WOTD – 8 April 2009

Alternative forms

• (noun, grammar): dim. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Derived from Middle French diminutif (1398), from Latin dīminutīvum (an alternative form of dēminutīvum), from dēminuō (“diminish”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɪn.jʊ.tɪv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɪn.jə.tɪv/, /dəˈmɪn.jə.tɪv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

diminutive (comparative more diminutive, superlative most diminutive)

1. Very small.

   Synonyms: lilliputian, tiny

   Antonyms: huge, gigantic

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 229:

     Mrs. Washington ("Oh, la, call me Martha, Boys") is a diminutive woman with a cheerful rather than happy air, who seems to bustle even when standing still..

   • 2011 October 20, Jamie Lillywhite, “Tottenham 1 - 0 Rubin Kazan”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Roman Sharonov rose unchallenged to head a corner wide, while diminutive winger Gokdeniz Karadeniz ghosted in with a diving header from the edge of the six-yard box that was acrobatically kept out by Gomes.

2. (obsolete) Serving to diminish.
   • 1711, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, 1714 edition republished by Gregg International Publishers, 1968, Volume 3, Miscellany 3, Chapter 2, p. 175,

     They cou’d, perhaps, even embrace POVERTY contentedly, rather than submit to any thing diminutive either of their inward Freedom or national Liberty.

3. (grammar) Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.

   Antonym: augmentative

Derived terms

• diminutively
• diminutiveness
• diminutivise
• diminutivize
• nondiminutive
• undiminutive

Translations

very small

Arabic: ضَئِيل (ḍaʔīl) Bulgarian: мъничък (bg) (mǎničǎk), миниатю́рен (bg) (miniatjúren) Catalan: diminut Czech: drobný (cs) Danish: diminutiv (da) Dutch: minuscuul (nl) Finnish: vähäinen (fi), mitätön (fi), pikkuruinen (fi), pikkiriikkinen (fi) French: minuscule (fr) German: winzig (de), diminutiv (de) Greek: μικροσκοπικός (el) (mikroskopikós) Hungarian: pici (hu), parányi (hu), pöttöm (hu), apró (hu), csepp (hu) Irish: bídeach Italian: minuscolo (it) Maori: nepi, nepinepi, ngorangora, ngihongiho Norwegian: Bokmål: diminutiv (no) Nynorsk: diminutiv Portuguese: minúsculo (pt), diminuto (pt) Romanian: diminutiv (ro) Russian: кро́хотный (ru) (króxotnyj), миниатю́рный (ru) (miniatjúrnyj) Scottish Gaelic: meanbh Slovak: drobný (sk) Spanish: diminuto (es) Swedish: pytteliten (sv), diminutiv (sv) Turkish: küçücük (tr), minik (tr) Vietnamese: nhỏ xíu (vi)

serving to diminish

Arabic: تَصْغِيرِيّ (taṣḡīriyy) Bulgarian: умали́телен (umalítelen) Dutch: verkleinend (nl) Finnish: pienentävä (fi) German: verkleinernd (de) Greek: μειωτικός (el) (meiotikós) Hungarian: kicsinyítő (hu), kisebbítő, csökkentő (hu) Italian: diminutivo (it) Portuguese: diminutivo (pt), diminuidor Russian: уменьши́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj) Spanish: diminutivo (es) m Swedish: förminskande (sv)

grammar

Albanian: zvogëlues (sq) Arabic: تَصْغِيرِيّ m (taṣḡīriyy) Armenian: նվազական (hy) (nvazakan) Bulgarian: умалително име n (umalitelno ime) Catalan: diminutiu (ca) Czech: deminutivní Dutch: verkleinings-, diminutief (nl) Finnish: deminutiivinen (fi), diminutiivinen (fi) French: diminutif (fr) German: diminutiv (de) Greek: υποκοριστικός (el) (ypokoristikós) Ancient: ὑποκοριστικός (hupokoristikós) Hungarian: kicsinyítő (hu) Ido: diminutiva (io) Japanese: 指小辞 (ja) (ししょうじ, shishōji) Korean: 지소사 (jisosa) Norwegian: Bokmål: diminutiv (no) Nynorsk: diminutiv Portuguese: diminutivo (pt) Russian: уменьши́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj), уменьши́тельно-ласка́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹno-laskátelʹnyj), диминути́вный (ru) (diminutívnyj), деминути́вный (deminutívnyj) Slovak: deminutívny Spanish: diminutivo (es) Swedish: diminutiv (sv) Ukrainian: зме́ншувальний (zménšuvalʹnyj) Vietnamese: sự giảm nhẹ Welsh: bachigol

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) diminutif (fr) Indonesian: (please verify) kecil (id), (please verify) mungil (id), (please verify) kate (id), (please verify) cebol (id), (please verify) sepele (id)

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

diminutive

Wikipedia

diminutive (plural diminutives)

1. (grammar) A word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.

   Synonym: nomen deminutivum

   Antonym: augmentative

   Booklet, the diminutive of book, means ‘small book’.

   • 1908, G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy:

     But I was frightfully fond of the universe and wanted to address it by a diminutive. I often did so; and it never seemed to mind.

   • 1916, Ernest Weekley, Surnames, page 287:

     When we come to occupative names, we are again confronted by crowds of diminutives.

Related terms

• diminish
• diminution
• diminutization
• diminutize

Translations

grammar: word form expressing smallness

Albanian: zvogëlim (sq) m Arabic: تَصْغِير m (taṣḡīr) Armenian: նվազական (hy) (nvazakan) Breton: furm vihanaat (br) f Bulgarian: умали́телно и́ме n (umalítelno íme) Catalan: diminutiu (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 指小詞 / 指小词 (zh) (zhǐxiǎocí), 小稱詞 / 小称词 (zh) (xiǎochēngcí) Czech: zdrobnělina (cs) f, deminutivum (cs) n Danish: diminutiv (da) n Dutch: verkleinwoord (nl) n, diminutief (nl) n Esperanto: diminutivo (eo) Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: deminutiivi (fi) Faroese: minkingarorð n, smækkanarorð n French: diminutif (fr) m Galician: diminutivo (gl) m German: Diminutiv (de) m, Diminutivum (de) m, Verkleinerungsform (de) f, Verkleinerungswort n, Diminutivbildung f, Deminutiv (de) n, Deminutivum n Greek: υποκοριστικό (el) n (ypokoristikó) Ancient: ὑποκοριστικόν n (hupokoristikón) Hebrew: צורת הקטנה (he) f (tsurát-haktaná) Hungarian: kicsinyítő képzős alak, kicsinyített alak Icelandic: (diminutive suffix) smækkunarending f Ido: diminutivo (io) Irish: díspeagadh (ga) m Italian: diminutivo (it) m Japanese: 指小辞 (ja) (ししょうじ, shishōji) Korean: 지소사 (jisosa) Latin: (nomen) deminutivum, (nomen) diminutivum Luxembourgish: Diminutiv m Norwegian: Bokmål: diminutiv (no) m or n Nynorsk: diminutiv m or n Polish: zdrobnienie (pl) n Portuguese: diminutivo (pt) m Romanian: diminutiv (ro) n Russian: диминути́в (ru) m (diminutív), уменьши́тельное сло́во n (umenʹšítelʹnoje slóvo), уменьши́тельно-ласка́тельное сло́во n (umenʹšítelʹno-laskátelʹnoje slóvo), деминути́в (ru) m (deminutív) Scottish Gaelic: meanbhan m Serbo-Croatian: Roman: deminutiv (sh) m, umanjenica (sh) f Slovak: zdrobnenina (sk) f, deminutívum n Slovene: pomanjševalnica f, manjšálnica f Spanish: diminutivo (es) m Swedish: diminutiv (sv) n Thai: please add this translation if you can Volapük: smalükamavöd (vo), smalamavöd (older term, obsolete) Welsh: bachigyn (cy) m Yiddish: דימינוטיוו m (diminutiv)

See also

• hypocorism
• pet form; pet name
• Category:English diminutive nouns, proper nouns, interjections, and suffixes
• Category:English endearing and childish terms

Danish

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite of diminutiv
2. plural of diminutiv

French

Adjective

diminutive

1. feminine singular of diminutif

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

diminutive

1. inflection of diminutiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

diminutive

1. feminine plural of diminutivo

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv