DIMINUTIVE

Diminutive

In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form, is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment. It is the opposite of an augmentative. While many languages apply the grammatical diminutive to nouns, a few also use it for adjectives and even other parts of speech .

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diminutive

Noun

  1. A word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.
    Booklet, the diminutive of book, means ‘small book’.

Adjective

  1. Very small.
  2. Serving to diminish.
  3. Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: diminutive
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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