Italian Diminutives - Alterati Diminutivi

In Italian, diminutives (alterati diminutivi) are a category of altered words (alterati) in which the meaning of the base word is attenuated or diminished in some sense. Examples include sassolino (a pebble), spiaggetta (small beach), tastierina (keypad), and visitina (short visit). Forming Diminutives With Suffixes Diminutives can be formed with the suffixes: -ino: mamma  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mamminamother, mom  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mommy minestra  Ã‚ »Ã‚  minestrinasoup  Ã‚ »Ã‚  broth pensiero  Ã‚ »Ã‚  pensierinothought, worry  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small gift, a little present ragazzo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  ragazzinoboy  Ã‚ »Ã‚  young boy, little boy, kid bello  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bellinobeautiful  Ã‚ »Ã‚  cute difficile  Ã‚ »Ã‚  difficilinodifficult, complicated  Ã‚ »Ã‚  minor difficulty The suffix -ino has two variants with an infix (interfisso) (element inserted between the base and the suffix): -(i)cino and -olino. Here are some examples: bastone  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bastoncinowalking stick, cane, scepter, rod  Ã‚ »Ã‚  stick, twig, switch libro  Ã‚ »Ã‚  libric(c)inobook  Ã‚ »Ã‚  booklet sasso  Ã‚ »Ã‚  sassolinorock, boulder  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small stone, pebble topo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  topolinomouse, rat  Ã‚ »Ã‚  baby mouse freddo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  freddolinocold  Ã‚ »Ã‚  brisk magro  Ã‚ »Ã‚  magrolinothin, lean, slim, spare  Ã‚ »Ã‚  skinny In spoken Italian there are also avverbi alterati: presto  Ã‚ »Ã‚  prestinosoon, early, quickly  Ã‚ »Ã‚  somewhat quickly tanto  Ã‚ »Ã‚  tantinoso much, very  Ã‚ »Ã‚  a fair amount tardi  Ã‚ »Ã‚  tardinolate  Ã‚ »Ã‚  barely late The modifying suffix -ino is most frequently used with suffix combinations: casa  Ã‚ »Ã‚  casetta  Ã‚ »Ã‚  casettina, gonna  Ã‚ »Ã‚  gonella  Ã‚ »Ã‚  gonnellina. -etto: bacio  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bacettokiss  Ã‚ »Ã‚  little kiss, peck camera  Ã‚ »Ã‚  camerettabedroom  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small bedroom casa  Ã‚ »Ã‚  casettahouse  Ã‚ »Ã‚  cottage, small house lupo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  lupettowolf  Ã‚ »Ã‚  wolf cub, cub scout basso  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bassettoshort  Ã‚ »Ã‚  shrimp, pipsqueak piccolo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  piccolettosmall  Ã‚ »Ã‚  shorty A combination of suffixes is common: scarpa  Ã‚ »Ã‚  scarpetta  Ã‚ »Ã‚  scarpettinao, secco  Ã‚ »Ã‚  secchetto  Ã‚ »Ã‚  secchettino. -ello: albero  Ã‚ »Ã‚  alberellotree  Ã‚ »Ã‚  sapling asino  Ã‚ »Ã‚  asinellodonkey  Ã‚ »Ã‚  little or young donkey paese  Ã‚ »Ã‚  paesellovillage  Ã‚ »Ã‚  hamlet rondine  Ã‚ »Ã‚  rondinellaswallow  Ã‚ »Ã‚  baby swallow cattivo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  cattivellobad, wicked  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mischievous, naughty povero  Ã‚ »Ã‚  poverellopoor  Ã‚ »Ã‚  poor person This suffix has variants with the interfixes -(i)cello and -erello: campo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  campicellofield  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small field informazione  Ã‚ »Ã‚  informazionecellainformation  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small piece of information fatto  Ã‚ »Ã‚  fatterellofact, event, occurrence  Ã‚ »Ã‚  minor matter, anecdote fuoco  Ã‚ »Ã‚  f(u)ocherellofire  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small fire Often there is a combination of suffixes: storia  Ã‚ »Ã‚  storiella  Ã‚ »Ã‚  storiellina, buco  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bucherello  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bucherellino. -uccio (has a pejorative connotation or, more commonly, is a term of endearment): avvocato  Ã‚ »Ã‚  avvocatucciolawyer  Ã‚ »Ã‚  shyster casa  Ã‚ »Ã‚  casucciahouse  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small cozy house cavallo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  cavallucciohorse  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small horse, seahorse caldo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  calduccioheat  Ã‚ »Ã‚  warmth freddo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  fredducciocold  Ã‚ »Ã‚  coldness, coolness A variant of -uccio is -uzzo: pietra  Ã‚ »Ã‚  pietruzza. -icci(u)lo: asta  Ã‚ »Ã‚  asticci(u)olapole (for vaulting), rod, lance  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small rod; the shaft of an arrow or a pen festa  Ã‚ »Ã‚  festicciolafeast, holiday, vacation  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small party porto  Ã‚ »Ã‚  porticcioloharbor  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small harbor Sometimes also has a pejorative sense: donna  Ã‚ »Ã‚  donnicci(u)ola. -ucolo (has a pejorative connotation): donna  Ã‚ »Ã‚  donnucolawoman  Ã‚ »Ã‚  silly woman maestro  Ã‚ »Ã‚  maestrucoloteacher  Ã‚ »Ã‚  ignorant, incompetent teacher poeta  Ã‚ »Ã‚  poetucolopoeta  Ã‚ »Ã‚  scribbler, rhymster -(u)olo: faccenda  Ã‚ »Ã‚  faccenduolamatter, business, affair  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small chore montagna  Ã‚ »Ã‚  montagn(u)olamountain  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mound poesia  Ã‚ »Ã‚  poesiolapoetry  Ã‚ »Ã‚  limerick, a small poem Note also the alterazione with -olo, which occurs mostly in combination with another suffix: nome  Ã‚ »Ã‚  nomignoloname  Ã‚ »Ã‚  nickname via  Ã‚ »Ã‚  viottolostreet  Ã‚ »Ã‚  lane medico  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mediconzolo (pejorative connotation)doctor  Ã‚ »Ã‚  quack For the suffix -iciattolo see below. -otto: contadino  Ã‚ »Ã‚  contadinottofarmer, peasant  Ã‚ »Ã‚  poorly educated countryman pieno  Ã‚ »Ã‚  pienottofull, packed, teeming with  Ã‚ »Ã‚  pot-bellied giovane  Ã‚ »Ã‚  giovanottoyoungster  Ã‚ »Ã‚  young man, bachelor ragazzo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  ragazzottoboy  Ã‚ »Ã‚  sturdy boy basso  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bassottolow, short  Ã‚ »Ã‚  squat Can denote a young animal: aquila  Ã‚ »Ã‚  aquilottoeagle  Ã‚ »Ã‚  eaglet lepre  Ã‚ »Ã‚  leprottohare  Ã‚ »Ã‚  baby hare passero  Ã‚ »Ã‚  passerottosparrow  Ã‚ »Ã‚  young sparrow -acchiotto (can be a diminutive or term of endearment): lupo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  lupacchiottowolf  Ã‚ »Ã‚  wolf cub orso  Ã‚ »Ã‚  orsacchiottobear  Ã‚ »Ã‚  bear cub, teddy bear volpe  Ã‚ »Ã‚  volpacchiottofox  Ã‚ »Ã‚  fox cub, sly person furbo  Ã‚ »Ã‚  furbacchiottosly, cunning, shrewd, astute, clever  Ã‚ »Ã‚  cunning person (wily old fox) -iciattolo (can be a diminutive or term of endearment): febbre  Ã‚ »Ã‚  febbriciattolafever  Ã‚ »Ã‚  slight fever fiume  Ã‚ »Ã‚  fiumiciattoloriver  Ã‚ »Ã‚  stream libro  Ã‚ »Ã‚  libriciattolobook  Ã‚ »Ã‚  small book mostro  Ã‚ »Ã‚  mostriciattolomonster  Ã‚ »Ã‚  little monster