Hypocoristic
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A hypocoristic (or hypocorism) is a pet name or term of endearment, a lesser form of the given name used in more intimate situations. Often generated as
- a contracted form of a given name, such as Tony from Anthony.
- a baby-talk form approximating the name's pronunciation, such as Bess for Elizabeth.
- a given name with a diminutive suffix; in some languages diminutive forms of names are used primarily when referring to children and the meaning can oscillate between tenderness and condescension when used for an adult.
- * -ito/-ita or -ín/-ina in Spanish, such as Juanita from Juana. Extra consonants may be interposed as in Carmelina and Carmencita from Carmen, or merged, as in Carmina.
- * a parallel construction in Portuguese, with -inho/-inha, as in Aninha from Ana and Joãozinho from João.
- * -ie or -y in English, such as Vicky from Victoria.
- * -chan in Japanese, such as Kana-chan from Kana and Aki-chan from Akihiro. Gemination (doubling) of the consonant or lengthening of the vowel before the -chan to provide two moras is common, such as Settchan from Setsuko and Hii-chan from Hiroki.
- * reduplication in various languages, such as John-John or Didi.
- * the addition of a word-final very high tone, or changed tone, in Cantonese and related dialects, sometimes in combination with the addition of the mid-toned prefix a before the name.
See also
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