Grammar > Words, sentences and clauses > Word formation > Diminutives (- let, - y and mini-) from English Grammar Today. A diminutive creates a meaning of ‘small’ or ‘little’. The most common diminutives are formed with the prefix mini- and with suffixes such as -let and -y. We often use a diminutive with names or with abbreviated names when we ...

Diminutives do exist in English but there is also a wide range of other modifying words, which are commonly used particularly with adjectives and adverbs to reduce their impact. Words such as: fairly. quite. pretty. somewhat. kind of. a bit. relatively.

30/12/2014 · There are other forms of diminutives in English, one example of this is something called the sibling diminutive. This is not the focus of this post, but here are two examples of sibling diminutives in English: “movie” instead of “movie theater” and “plane” instead of “airplane.”.

05/12/2011 · -ling: Words formed with this diminutive are generally but not exclusively affectionate: darling, duckling, but underling. 35. -o : This …

Synonyms for DIMINUTIVE: bantam, dinky, dwarfish, fine, half-pint, Lilliputian, little, pint-size; Antonyms for DIMINUTIVE: big, biggish, considerable, goodly, grand ...

Here are some common suffixes used to create diminutives in English. -y or –ie ( Sally, Maggie, Bobby, Jimmy, sweetie, hottie ) -sie, -sies or -sy ( sissy from sis or sister, popsy from pop, another word for dad), tootsie , halfsies from half , itsy-bitsy - this is its own word meaning very small )