List of diminutives by language

The following is a list of diminutives by language.

English has a great variety of historic diminutives adopted from other languages but many of these are lexicalized. Productive diminutives are infrequent in Standard English in comparison with many other languages. The most common include shortening a longer name (e.g., "" for Peter) or adding the diminutive suffix /i/ ("movie" for moving picture), variously spelled -y ("" for Sarah), -ie ("" for Margaret), and -i ("" for Danielle).

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

In Dutch, the diminutive is used extensively, have different meanings than size alone and is not merely restricted to nouns. It is the nuances of meaning expressed by the diminutive which make it peculiarly unique Dutch but also difficult to master for non-native speakers. It is a very productive, 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:

A few words have several diminutives: kip → kippetje or kipje (chicken), rib → ribbetje or ribje (rib). One word has even three possible diminutives: rad → radje, raadje or radertje (cog). A few words have more than one diminutive, of which one is formed by lengthening of the vowel sound with a different meaning. Examples: gat-gaatje/gatje, glas-glaasje/glasje, lot-lootje/lotje), pad-paadje/padje

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