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The following is a list of diminutives by language. Indo-European languages 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, vocable -eau/-el/-ella/-elle/-ello/-il/-illa/-ille/-illo/-le (F-S-I-L bidim.; E -kin): armadillo, bordello, bureau, castle (OE castel, <1000), codicil, espadrille, flotilla, limoncello, mantle, Monticello, morsel, organelle, pastel, pencil, pestle, quadrille, quarrel, rowel (1344), scintilla, vanilla, violoncello -ina/-ine/-ini/-ino (F-S-I simulative, mainly 1750s-on; E -like or -ling as adj. but cognate with -ing as n. or adj.): bambino, coquina, doctrine (1350s), domino, farina, figurine, linguine, maraschino, marina, neutrino, palomino, tambourine, zucchini mini-/micro- (commercial miniature compound): minibar, miniblind, miniboss, minibus, minicar (1949), minicassette (1967), minicomputer (1963), minigame, minigun, minimall, minimarket (1965), minimart, mini-nuke, minischool, miniseries (1974), miniskirt (1965), minitower, minivan, miniver (1250), mini-LP, mini-me, MiniDisc, microkitchen, microcosm, microscope Scots In Lowland Scots diminutives are frequently used. The most common diminutive suffixes are -ie, -ock, -ockie (double diminutive) or the Caithness –ag (the latter from Scottish Gaelic, and perhaps reinforcing the other two before it). -ie is by far the most common suffix used. Others are -le or -er for frequentative or diminutive emphasis. Less frequent diminutives are kin (often after the diminutive -ie) and -lin. Examples include -ie: burnie (small burn), feardie or feartie (frightened person, coward), gamie (gamekeeper), kiltie (kilted soldier), mannie (man), Nessie (Loch Ness Monster), postie (postman), wifie (woman) -ock: bittock (wee bit, little bit), playock (toy), sourock (sorrel), -ag: Cheordag (Geordie), bairnag (small child) -ockie: hooseockie (little house), wifockie (little woman) -le: crummle (a bread-crumb), snirtle (snigger, snort) -er: plowter (dabble), stoiter (stumble) -kin: cuitikins (spatterdashes), flindrikin (light, flimsy), joskin (yokel) -lin: hauflin (half-grown boy), gorblin (unfledged bird) Dutch In Dutch, diminutives are used extensively. Their meaning often goes beyond a reduction in size and they are not merely restricted to nouns. The nuances of meaning expressed by diminutives are particularly unique to Dutch and can be difficult to master for non-native speakers. Diminutives are very productive endings, they can change the function of a word and are formed by adding one of the suffixes -je, -pje, -kje, -tje, -etje to the word in question, depending on the latter's phonology: -je for words ending in -b, -c, -d, -t, -f, -g, -ch, -k, -p, -v, -x, -z or -s: neef → neefje (male cousin, nephew), lach → lachje (laugh), schaap → schaapje (sheep) -pje for words ending in -m: boom (tree) → boompje (but bloemetje if the meaning is bouquet of flowers; see below) -kje for words ending in -ing: koning (king) → koninkje (the 'ng'-sound transforms into 'nk'), but vondeling → vondelingetje (foundling) -tje for words ending i.... Discover the Tom Leksey popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tom Leksey books.