diminutive

diminutive

See also: Diminutive

English

WOTD – 8 April 2009

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle French diminutif (1398), from Latin diminutivum, from dēminuō (“diminish”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

diminutive (comparative more diminutive, superlative most diminutive)

1. Very small.

   Synonyms: lilliputian, tiny

   Antonyms: huge, gigantic

   • 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

Translations

very small

Arabic: ضَئِيل‎ (ḍaʾīl) 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

Bulgarian: умалително име n (umalitelno ime) Catalan: diminutiu (ca) Dutch: verkleinwoord (nl) n Faroese: minkingarorð n, smækkanarorð n Finnish: deminutiivinen (fi), diminutiivinen (fi) French: diminutif (fr) m 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: zdrobnienie (pl) n Portuguese: diminutivo (pt) Russian: уменьши́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹnyj), уменьши́тельно-ласка́тельный (ru) (umenʹšítelʹno-laskátelʹnyj), диминути́вный (ru) (diminutívnyj), деминути́вный (deminutívnyj) Slovak: zdrobnenina (sk) f, deminutívum n Spanish: diminutivo (es) Swedish: diminutiv (sv) c Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can 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

diminutive (plural diminutives)

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

   Synonyms: nomen deminutivum, pet form

   Antonym: augmentative

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

   • 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
• dimwit

Translations

grammar: word form expressing smallness

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 (zhǐxiǎocí), 小稱詞／小称词 (xiǎochēngcí) Czech: zdrobnělina (cs) f, deminutivum 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) French: diminutif (fr) m Galician: diminutivo 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 (tzurát-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, diminutive n pl 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 Slovene: pomanjševalnica f, manjšálnica f Spanish: diminutivo (es) m Swedish: diminutiv (sv) Thai: please add this translation if you can Volapük: smalükamavöd (vo), smalamavöd (older term, obsolete) Welsh: bachigyn (cy) m Yiddish: דימינוטיוו‎ m (diminutiv)

Further reading

• diminutive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Danish

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite of diminutiv
2. plural of diminutiv

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French

Adjective

diminutive

1. feminine singular of diminutif

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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

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Italian

Adjective

diminutive

1. feminine plural of diminutivo

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Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

diminutive

1. definite singular/plural of diminutiv