List of diminutives by language

Germanic languages English English has a great variety of historical diminutives adopted from other languages but many of these are lexicalized. Productive diminutives are infrequent to nonexistent in Standard English in comparison with many other languages. Native English endings that could be seen as diminutives • -k/-ock/-uck: bollock, bullock, buttock, fetlock, hillock, mattock (OE mattuc), mullock, pillock, stalk, whelk, yolk • -n/-en/-on (accusative or feminine): chicken, kitten, maiden • -le (frequentative -l): puddle, sparkle • -s: 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 nicknaming, later Commonwealth): bucko, daddio, garbo, kiddo, smoko, wacko, Jacko, Ricko, • -er/-ers/-ster (diminutive, hypocoristic, also elided rhotic -a): bonkers (1948), preggers (1940), starkers (1905), Becker[s], Lizzers, Hankster, Patster • -a (Geordie assimilative -er): Gazza, Macca • -z (Geordie -s): Bez, Chaz, Gaz • -y (assimilative -y): buddy, doggy, horsey Loanwords and native English words using foreign-language diminutives • -ling (Norse diminutive-patrinominative): darling, duckling, fingerling, gosling, underling • -erel/-rel (Franco-Latin comparative, pejorative -(t)eriale): cockerel (1450s), coistrel (1570s), doggerel (1249), dotterel (15th century), gangrel (14th century), hoggerel, kestrel (15th century), mackerel (c. 1300), 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 (c. 1300, 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 (c. 1300; ML quaccula), rail (1320; L regula), rail (1460; VL rasculum), rail (1450s; VL ragula), roll (c. 1300), squirrel (1327), toil (c. 1300; VL tudicula), trail (c. 1300; VL tragula) • -et/-ette/-etti/-etto/-it/-ita/-ito/-itta (F-S-I-L diminutive -itat-): amaretto, burrito, cigarette, clarinet, courgette, diskette, fajita, falsetto, faucet (c. 1400), gambit (1656), kitchenette, marionette, minuet, oubliette, palette, pallet (1350s), parquet, poppet (c. 1300), puppet (16th century), rabbit (1380), Sagitta, señorita, spaghetti, suffragette, swallet (c. 1660), taquito, towelette, wallet (1350s) • -ot/-otte (F ablaut or assimilative dim. -ultat-): culottes, harlot (13th century), Charlotte, Diderot, Lancelot (1180), Margot, Peugeot, Pierrot • -let/-lette (F dim.): aglet (15th century), applet (1995), booklet (1859), chicklet (1886), wikt:eyelet (1400), gauntlet, goblet, hamlet (15th century), leaflet (1787), oillet (1350s), omelette (1611), piglet (1883), roulette (1734), tablet (c. 1300) • -ey/-ie/-y (Scottish-Dutch dim., 15th century-on): cookie (1703), daddy (c. 1500), 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 (hypocoristic 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 • -eau/-el/-ella/-elle/-ello/-il/-illa/-ille/-illo/-le (F-S-I-L bidim.; E -kin): armadillo, bordello, bureau, castle (OE castel, Händl, Man(fred) > Mändl (both with epenthetic d and umlaut), (Gott)fried > Friedl, and so on. 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 "Häusle" or a little girl a "Mädle". A unique feature of Swabian is that words other than nouns may be suffixed with -le, which is not the case with other German dialects (except Bernese Swiss German), 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 Mädle, zwoi Mädla." High Alemannic In High Alemannic the standard suffix -li is added to the root word. A little would be äs bitzli (literally a little bite) as to "ein bisschen" in Standard German. The diminutive 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. Sabä. Corinne becomes Cogi resp. Corä. Barbara becomes Babsi resp. Babsä, Robert becomes Röbi resp. Röbu. Jakob becomes Köbi resp. Köbu. Gabriel becomes Gäbu in Highest Alemannic. Low German In 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 → mānnegie (EN: man → little man) • kom → kōmmegie (EN: bowl → little bowl) In East Frisian Low Saxon, -je, -, 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. 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 lütte, meaning "little", as in dat lütte 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 > Lüdeke, Wilhelm > Wilke(n), Wernher > Werneke, and so on. Some of these name bases are difficult to recognize in comparison to standard German; for example, Dumke, Domke 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 becomes Velvl, Khaim: Khaiml, mame (mother): mamele, Khane: Khanele, Moyshe: Moyshele, kind (child): kindl or kindele, Bobe (grandmother): Bobele, teyl (piece): 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, Mordkhe/Motke, 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. • -[e]nyu: 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: • grís (pig) → gríslingur (piglet) • bók (book) → bæklingur (pamphlet/booklet) • jeppi (jeep) → jepplingur (SUV) Swedish The Swedish use of diminutive is heavily dominated by prefixes such as "mini-", "lill-", "små-" and "pytte-" and all of these prefixes can be put in front of almost all nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs: :småsur (a bit angry) :pytteliten (tiny) :lillgammal (small-old, about young people who act as adults) :minilektion (short lession) :småjogga (jog nonchalantly or slowly) :minigitarr (small guitar) The suffixes "-ling" and "-ing" are also used to some extent: :and (duck) -> älling (duckling) :kid (fawn) -> killing (goat kid) :gås (goose) -> gässling (gosling) :myndig (of age) -> myndling (person that is not of age, i.e. under 18) :halv (half) + växa (grow) -> halvväxing (semi-grown up boy) The suffix "-is" can be used as a diminutive suffix to some extent but is often used as a slang suffix which is very colloquial. Latin and Romance languages Latin See latin diminutive. 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 ( frumușel (beautiful; pretty) Adverbs • repede > repejor (fast; quite fast) Pronouns • dumneata (you, polite form) > mata > mătăluță (used to address children respectfully in a non-familial context) • nimic (nothing) > nimicuța • nițel (a little something) Spanish 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); for adjectives, it is used in an assertive manner. • -cito/-cita, a variant of -ito/-ita used for words ending in -e or another consonant (león, "lion" → leoncito; café, "coffee" → cafecito). • -illo/-illa (flota; "fleet" → flotilla; guerra, "war" → guerrilla; cámara, "chamber" → camarilla); for adjectives, it is used in an approximative manner. Lithuanian diminutives are especially prevalent in poetic language, such as folk songs. Examples: • ąžuolas (oak) → ąžuolėlis, ąžuoliukas • brolis (brother) → brolelis, broliukas, brolytis, brolužis, brolužėlis, brolutytis, broliukėlis, etc. • klevas (maple) → klevelis, klevukas, klevutis • pakalnė (slope) → pakalnutė (Lily-of-the-valley, Convallaria) • saulė (sun) → saulelė, saulytė, saulutė, saulužė, saulužėlė, etc. • svogūnas (onion) → svogūnėlis (bulb), svogūniukas • vadovas (leader) → vadovėlis (textbook, manual) Latvian In Latvian diminutives are widely used and are generally constructed with suffixes applied to the noun stem. Different diminutive forms can express smallness or intimacy: -iņš/-iņa, -sniņa, -tiņš/-tiņa, -ītis/-īte, derogative, uniqueness or insignificantness: -elis/-ele, -ulis/-ule, smallness and uniqueness: -ēns/ene, -uks. Sometimes double diminutives are derived: -elītis/-elīte, -ēntiņš, -ēniņš/-enīte. Diminutives are also often derived from adjectives and adjectives themselves in few cases can be used in diminutive forms. Examples: • laiva → laiviņa (boat) • sirds → sirsniņa (heart) • ūdens → ūdentiņš (water) • brālis → brālītis (brother) • nams → namelis (house) • zirgs → zirģelis (horse) • gudrs → gudrelis (smart → smart one) • brālis → brālēns (brother→cousin) • cālis → cālēns (chicken) • lācis → lāčuks (bear) • zirgs → zirģelis → zirģelītis (horse) • kaķis → kaķēns → kaķēntiņš (cat) • kuce → kucēns → kucēniņš (bitch → puppy) • mazs → maziņš (small→very small) • mīļš → mīlīgs (lovely) • maza pele → maziņa pelīte (little mouse) Slavic languages Slovene Slovene typically forms diminutives of nouns (e.g., čaj → čajček 'tea', meso → meseko 'meat'), but can also form diminutives of some verbs (e.g., božati → božkati 'to pet, stroke'; objemati → objemčkati 'to hug') and adjectives (e.g., bolan → bolančkan 'sick, ill'). Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Shtokavian dialect of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian language most commonly use suffixes -ić, -ak (in some dialects -ek), -če for diminutives of masculine nouns, -ica for feminine nouns and names, and -ce, -ašce for neuter nouns. Feminine: • žaba (frog) → žabica • lopta (ball) → loptica • patka (duck) → patkica Masculine: • nos (nose) → nosić • konj (horse) → konjić, konjče Some masculine nouns can take two diminutive suffixes, -[a]k and -ić; in those cases, -k- becomes palatalized before -i to produce an ending -čić: • sin (son) → sinčić (also sinak or sinek) • momak (boy, bachelor, itself of diminutive origin) → momče, momčić Neuter: • pero (feather) → perce • jezero (lake) → jezerce • sunce (sun) → sunašce Adjectives can have various diminutives, formed either by suffixation: kisel (sour) → kiselkast, plav (blue) → plavičast, or by prefixation: malen (small) → omalen, dugačak (long) → podugačak. Kajkavian dialects form diminutives similarly to Slovene language. Bulgarian Bulgarian has an extended diminutive system. Masculine nouns have a double diminutive form. The first suffix that can be added is -че, (-che). At this points the noun has become neuter, because of the -e ending. The -нце, (-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) → glavitsa → glavichka Note that the suffixes can be any of -ка (-ka), -чка (-chka), and -ца (-tsa). Neuter nouns usually have one diminutive variant, formed by adding variations of -це (-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 -ък (-uk) for masculine, -ка (-ka) for feminine and -ко (-ko) for neuter: • maluk (small) → munichuk, malka → munichka, malko → munichko • golyam (big) → golemichuk, golyama → golemichka, golyamo → golemichko Czech In Czech diminutives are formed by suffixes, as in other Slavic languages. Common endings include -ka, -ko, -ek, -ík, -inka, -enka, -ečka, -ička, -ul-, -unka, -íček, -ínek 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, "Petřík" 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 -eček ("domek" – small house, "domeček" – very small house), and -ík and -íček ("Petřík" – small or beloved Peter, "Petříček" – very small or cute Peter), -ko and -ečko ("pírko" – small feather, "pírečko" – very small feather), and -ka and -ička/-ečka ("tlapka" – small paw, "tlapička" – very small paw; "peřinka" – small duvet, "peřinečka" – 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. "kočka" (notice the -ka ending) means "cat" (of normal size), "kočička" 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 "obřík" (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 "miminečíčko" (very small and cute baby), instead of correct "miminko" and "miminečko". 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/ (mainly feminine noun forms) • táta (dad) → taťka (daddy), Anna → Anka, Ivana → Ivanka, hora (mountain) → hůrka (a very small mountain or big hill), noha (leg, foot) → nožka (a little leg, such as on a small animal) /-ko/ (neuter noun forms) • rádio → rádijko, víno (wine) → vínko, triko (T-shirt) → tričko, pero (feather) → pírko, oko (eye) → očko /-ek/ (masculine noun forms) • dům (house) → domek, stůl (table) → stolek, schod (stair/step) → schůdek, prostor (space) → prostůrek, strom (tree) → stromek /-ík/ • Tom (Tom) → Tomík (little/cute/beloved Tom = Tommy), pokoj (room) → pokojík, kůl (stake/pole) → kolík, rum (rum) → rumík, koš (basket) → košík 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 children's speech during the time of language acquisition. 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, -śka, -szka, -cia, -sia, -unia, -enka, -lka for feminine nouns and -ek, -yk, -ciek, -czek, -czyk, -szek, -uń, -uś, -eńki, -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, malusieńki is considered even smaller than malusi or maleńki. 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., stołek (stool), which is grammatically a diminutive of stół (table). In many cases, the possibilities for creation of diminutives are seemingly endless and leave room for the creation of many neologisms. Some examples of common diminutives: Feminine • żaba (frog) → żabka, żabcia, żabusia, żabeńka, żabuleńka, żabeczka, żabunia • córka (daughter) → córeczka, córunia, córcia, córuś (Originally córka was created as diminutive from córa) • kaczka (duck) → kaczuszka, kaczusia, kaczunia • Katarzyna (Katherine) → Kasia, Kaśka, Kasieńka, Kasiunia, Kasiulka, Kasiuleczka, Kasiuneczka • Anna (Anna) → Ania, Anka, Ańcia, Anusia, Anuśka, Aneczka, Anulka, Anuleczka • Małgorzata (Margaret) → Małgorzatka, Małgosia, Małgośka, Gosia, Gosieńka, Gosiunia, Gosiula Masculine • chłopak (boy) → chłopaczek (Originally chłopak was created as diminutive from Old Polish chłop, which now means "peasant".) • kot (cat) → kotek, koteczek, kociątko, kociak, kociaczek, kocio, kicia, kiciunia, kotuś, kotunio, 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, -yok, masculine gender), 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), (mamulya, affectionate and playful sense), (mamen'ka, affectionate and old-fashioned), (mamanya, 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 -ок changes к to ч, when the suffix -ек is added. Often formative infixes and suffixes look like diminutive ones. The well-known word, (vodka), has the suffix, "-ka", which is not a diminutive, but formative, the word has a 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 many 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 • Anastasiya → Nastya (as in Nastya Liukin), Nasten'ka, Nastyona • Anna → Anya, An'ka, Anka, Anechka, Annushka, Anyuta, Nyura, Nyuta, Nyusha • Irina → Ira, Irka, Irinka, Irinushka, Irochka, Irisha • Natalya → Natasha, Natashka, Natashen'ka, Nata, Natalka • Tatyana → Tanya, Tan'ka, Tanechka, Tanyusha, Tata, Tanchik • Yelizaveta → Liza, Lizochka, Lizka, Lizon'ka, Lizaveta • Yekaterina → Katya, Katyusha, Katen'ka, Kat'ka, Katechka, Katerina • Yevgeniya → Zhenya, Zhen'ka, Zhenechka, Zheka Masculine • Aleksander → Sasha, Sashka, Sashen'ka, Sashechka, Sanya, Shura, Sashok, Shurik • Aleksey → Alyosha (as in Alyosha Popovich), Alyoshka, Alyoshen'ka, Lyosha, Lyoshka, Lyoshen'ka, Leksey • Andrej → Andryusha, Andryushka, Andryushechka, Dyusha, Andreika • Anton → Antosha, Antoshka, Tosha, Toshka • Dmitriy → Dima, Mitya, Dimka, Dimushka, Dimochka, Miten'ka, Dimok, Diman, Dimon, Mityai • Ivan → Vanya, Van'ka, Vanechka, Vanyusha, Vanyushka, Ivanushka • Mikhail → Misha, Mishka, Mishen'ka, Mishechka, Mishutka, Mikhei, Mikhailo • Pyotr → Petya, Pet'ka, Peten'ka, Petyunya • Sergej → Seryoga, Seryozha, Seryozhka, Seryozhen'ka, Seryi • Vladimir → Volodya, Voloden'ka, Vova, Vovka, Vovochka, Vovan, Vovchik Celtic languages Irish In the Irish language diminutives are formed by adding -ín, and sometimes -án. • Rós (Rose) > Róisín (Rosalie, Rosaleen) • Seán > Seáinín (Johnny) • Séamas > Séamaisín, Jimín • Pádraig > Páidín (Paddy) • bóthar (road) > bóithrín (country lane) • caile > cailín (girl) [origin of the name Colleen] • fear (man) > firín, also feairín, (little man) • teach, also tigh, (house) > tigín, also teaichín • cloch (stone) > cloichín (pebble) • sráid (street) > sráidín (lane, alleyway) • séipéal (chapel) > séipéilín (small chapel) This suffix is also used to create the female equivalent of some male names: • Pádraig > Pádraigín (Patricia) • Gearóid (Gerald/Gerard) > Gearóidín (Geraldine) • Pól (Paul) > Póilín (Paula) -án as a diminutive suffix is much less frequent nowadays (though it was used extensively as such in Old Irish). • leabhar (book) > leabhrán (booklet, manual, handbook) • cnoc (hill) > cnocán (hillock) It could also be used ironically, for example bolgadán (little belly) was used to denote someone who had a large belly and an oileán (little rock) became the name for an island. Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic has two inherited diminutive suffixes of which only one (-(e)ag) is considered productive. • -(e)ag, feminine: Mòr ("Sarah") → Mòrag, 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 . Often there is phonetic change in the transition from the nominative case forms to the oblique cases, with the diminutives based on the oblique form, as in the examples of and below, in which the diminutive is based on a dental consonant instead of the sibilant ending of the nominative form. Modern Greek Diminutives are very common in Modern Greek with every noun having its own diminutive. They express either small size or affection: size -aki (σπίτι/spiti "house", σπιτάκι/spitaki "little house"; λάθος/lathos "mistake", λαθάκι/lathaki "negligible mistake") or affection -ula (μάνα/mana "mother", μανούλα/manula "mommy"). The most common suffixes are -άκης/-akis and -ούλης/-ulis for the male gender, -ίτσα/-itsa and -ούλα/-ula for the female gender, and -άκι/-aki for the neutral gender. Several of them are common as suffixes of surnames, originally meaning the offspring of a certain person, e.g. Παπάς/Papas "priest" with Παπαδάκης/Papadakis as the surname. Indic languages Hindi In Hindi, some common nouns and adjectives which are declinable and some which end in a consonant can be made diminutive by changing the end gender-marking vowel आ (ā) or ई (ī) to ऊ (ū) or by adding the vowel to ऊ (ū) respectively. For some inanimate masculine nouns which end in the vowel आ (ā), feminising it by changing the आ (ā) end vowel to ई (ī) can make it diminutive. Some proper nouns are made diminutive with ऊ (-u). This is most often applied to children's names, though lifelong nicknames can result: Punjabi In Punjabi, oftentimes feminine inanimate nouns tend be diminutives of a masculine noun. This change can be brought by replacing the vowel ā by ī. Most diminutives just differ in size from the base word. • ḍabbā ਡੱਬਾ (box) → ḍabbī ਡੱਬੀ (case) • sūā ਸੂਆ → sūī ਸੂਈ (needle) With animals, there may sometimes be a change in meaning. • kīṛā ਕੀੜਾ (insect) → kīṛī ਕੀੜੀ (ant) 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 'di' for a female Magahi In Magahi, proper nouns are made diminutive with -a or -wa. This is of course most often applied to children's names, though lifelong nicknames can result: • Raushan → Raushna • Vikash → Vikashwa • Anjali → Anjalia 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. Masculine : • Abhijit (अभिजित) → Abhya (अभ्या) • Rajendra (राजेंद्र) → Rajya (राज्या), Raju (राजू) Feminine : • Ashwini (अश्विनी) → Ashu (अशू) • Namrata (नम्रता) → Namee (नमी), Namu (नमू) Sinhala In Sinhala, proper nouns are made diminutive with -a after usually doubling the last pure consonant, or adding -iya. In doing so, often the last few characters are dropped. • Rajitha → Rajja or Rajiya • Romesh → Romma or Romiya • Sashika → Sashsha or Sashiya • Ramith → Ramma or Ramiya Sometimes, you don't double the last constant or don't add -iya after dropping the last few characters. • Rajitha → Raj • Dhanushka → Dhanu It seems that the sound is the decisive factor here, so it might be useless to find some grammatical devices here. For example, the proper noun (name) Wickramananayaka can make the diminutive Wicky. Here, only the first syllable is what is focused on. Therefore, Wicky can be the diminutive of all forms of names that start with Wick, like Wickramasinghe, Wickramaratne, Wickramabahu, and so on. Iranian languages Kurdish Northern Kurdish or Kurmanji uses mostly "-ik" suffix to make diminutive forms: • keç (girl, daughter) → keçik (little girl) • hirç (bear) → hirçik (teddybear) -ûç\-oç; kiçoç, piçûç. -il; zengil, çingil. -çe\-çik; baxçe, rûçik. -ole; hirçole, kiçole. -ok; kiçkok, berxok, derok. ...etc. Persian The most frequently used Persian diminutives are -cheh (چه-) and -ak (ک-). • bâgh باغ (garden) → bâghcheh باغچه (small garden) • mard مرد (man) → mardak مردک (this fellow) Other less used ones are -izeh and -zheh. • rang رنگ (colour) → rangizeh رنگیزه (pigment) • nây نای (pipe) → nâyzheh نایژه (small pipe, bronchus) Armenian Armenian diminutive suffixes are -ik, -ak and -uk. For example, the diminutive forms of տատ (tat, grandmother), գետ (get, river) and գայլ (gayl, wolf) are տատիկ (tatik), գետակ (getak), and գայլուկ (gayluk), respectively. ==Semitic languages==