diminutive

See also: Diminutive

English

WOTD – 8 April 2009

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English diminutif, derived from Old French diminutif, derived from Latin dīminutīv|us, ~a, ~um (adjective), from dīminūt|us, ~a, ~um (participle), perfect passive participle of dīmin|uō, ~uere, ~uī, ~ūtum (verb). First attested in 1398.

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĭ-mĭn′yə-tĭv
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, General Australian, Scotland) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmɪn.jə.tɪv/

  Audio (US):

  (file)

  Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

  (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəˈmən.jə.təv/

  (India) IPA^(key): /ɖɪˈmɪn.ju.tɪv/

• Rhymes: -ɪnjətɪv
• Hyphenation: di‧min‧u‧tive

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^[1]:

     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,^[2]

     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
• diminutivize, diminutivise
• 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

• Polish: drobny (pl), miniaturowy (pl)
• 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)
• Polish: zmniejszający
• Portuguese: diminutivo (pt), diminuidor
• Russian: уменьши́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: diminutivo (es)
• Swedish: förminskande (sv)

grammar

• Albanian: zvogëlues (sq)
• Arabic: تَصْغِيرِيّ m (taṣḡīriyy)
• Armenian: նվազական (hy) (nvazakan)
• Bulgarian: умалително име n (umalitelno ime)
• Catalan: diminutiu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 指小詞 / 指小词 (zh) (zhǐxiǎocí), 小稱詞 / 小称词 (zh) (xiǎochēngcí)

• 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

• Polish: zdrobniały (pl)
• 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

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kecil (id), ^{(please verify)} mungil (id), ^{(please verify)} kate (id), ^{(please verify)} cebol (id), ^{(please verify)} sepele (id)

Noun

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.

   • 2024 June 20, Eva Corlett, “Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Antarctic English slang”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     The British use the term “fidlets”, a diminutive of “Fid”, which in turn is an acronym for Falkland Island Dependencies, the former name of the British Antarctic Survey.

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: deminutiiv
• 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

• Persian: کوچک‌نما (kučak-namâ), تصغیر (fa) (tasġir)
• 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: คำเรียกชื่อเล่น
• Ukrainian: демінути́в m (deminutýv), зме́ншувальна фо́рма f (zménšuvalʹna fórma)
• Volapük: smalükamavöd (vo), smalamavöd (older term, obsolete)
• Welsh: bachigyn (cy) m
• Yiddish: דימינוטיוו m (diminutiv)

See also

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

Further reading

• “diminutive”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Danish

Adjective

diminutive

1. inflection of diminutiv:
   1. plural
   2. definite attributive

Noun

diminutive

1. plural of diminutiv

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.mi.ny.tiv/
• Hyphenation: di‧mi‧nu‧tive

Adjective

diminutive

1. feminine singular of diminutif

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diminuˈtiːvə/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: di‧mi‧nu‧ti‧ve

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.mi.nuˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: di‧mi‧nu‧tì‧ve

Adjective

diminutìve

1. feminine plural of diminutìvo

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv