diminutive

English

WOTD – 8 April 2009    

Etymology

From Old French diminutif (1398), from Latin diminutivum, from deminuere (“diminish”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

diminutive (comparative more diminutive, superlative most diminutive)

1. Very small.
   • 2011 October 20, Jamie Lillywhite, “Tottenham 1 - 0 Rubin Kazan”, 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. Serving to diminish.
3. (grammar) Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.

Synonyms

• (very small): lilliputian, tiny

Antonyms

• (very small): huge, gigantic
• (grammar, serving to diminish): augmentative

Translations

very small

• Arabic: ضئيل (ar)
• Bulgarian: мъничък (bg) (mǎničǎk), миниатюрен (bg) (miniatjuren)
• Czech: drobný (cs)
• Danish: diminutiv (da)
• Dutch: klein (nl)
• Finnish: vähäinen (fi), mitätön (fi), pikkuruinen (fi), pikkiriikkinen (fi)
• French: minuscule (fr)
• German: winzig (de), diminutiv (de)
• Greek: μικροσκοπικός (el) (mikroskopikós) m 

• Italian: minuscolo (it)
• Norwegian: diminutiv (no), diminutiv (no)
• Romanian: diminutiv (ro) m and n, diminutivă (ro) f
• Russian: крохотный (ru) (króxotnyj) , миниатюрный (ru) (miniatjúrnyj) 
• Scottish Gaelic: meanbh (gd)
• Slovak: drobný (sk)
• Spanish: diminuto (es)
• Vietnamese: nhỏ xíu (vi)

serving to diminish

• Arabic: تصغيري (ar)
• Bulgarian: умалителен (bg) (umalitelen)
• Dutch: verkleinend (nl)
• Finnish: pienentävä (fi)
• German: verkleinernd (de)

• Greek: μειωτικός (el) (meiotikós) m 
• Italian: diminutivo (it)
• Russian: уменьшительный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj) 
• Spanish: diminutivo (es) m

grammar

• Finnish: deminutiivinen (fi)
• Greek: υποκοριστικός (el) (ypokoristikós) m 

• Russian: уменьшительный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj) , уменьшительно-ласкательный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹno-laskátelʹnyj) , диминутивный (ru) (diminutívnyj) 
• Spanish: diminutivo (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: diminutif
• Indonesian: kecil, mungil, kate, cebol, sepele

Noun

Wikipedia diminutive (plural diminutives)

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

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

Antonyms

• augmentative

Translations

grammar: word form expressing smallness

• Arabic: التصغير (ar) m
• Armenian: նվազական (hy) (nvazakan) 
• Breton: furm vihanaat (br) f
• Bulgarian: умалително име (bg) n (umalitelno ime)
• Czech: zdrobnělina (cs) f, deminutivum (cs) n
• Danish: diminutiv (da) n
• Dutch: verkleinwoord (nl) n, diminutief (nl) n
• Finnish: deminutiivi (fi)
• French: diminutif (fr) m
• German: Diminutiv (de) m, Diminutivum (de) m, Verkleinerungsform (de) f, Verkleinerungswort (de) n, Di­mi­nu­tiv­bil­dung (de) f, Deminutiv (de) n, Deminutivum (de) n
• Greek: υποκοριστικό (el) (ipokoristikó) n 
• Hebrew: צורת הקטנה (he) (tzurát-haktaná) f
• Icelandic: (diminutive suffix) smækkunarending (is) f

• Italian: diminutivo (it) m
• Polish: zdrobnienie (pl) n
• Romanian: diminutiv (ro) n, diminutive (ro) n pl
• Russian: диминутив (ru) (diminutív) m , уменьшительное слово (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnoje slóvo) n , уменьшительно-ласкательное слово (ru) (umenʹšítelʹno-laskátelʹnoje slóvo) n 
• Scottish Gaelic: meanbhan (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: deminutiv (sh) m, umanjenica (sh) f
• Slovak: zdrobnenina (sk) f
• Slovene: pomanjševalnica f, manjšálnica (sl) f
• Spanish: diminutivo (es) m
• Swedish: diminutiv (sv)
• Volapük: smalükamavöd (vo), smalamavöd (vo) (older term, obsolete)

External links

• Diminutive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Related terms

• diminish
• dimwit

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Danish

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite of diminutiv
2. plural of diminutiv

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French

Adjective

diminutive f

1. feminine form of diminutif

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Italian

Adjective

diminutive f

1. feminine plural form of diminutivo