Spanish/Diminutives

Diminutives are suffixes that indicate small size, youth, affection or contempt. English examples are –y in doggy or -let in booklet.

The most common Spanish diminutive suffix is -ito/-ita. Gatito means small cat, particularly kitten. Esté quietecito is a nice way of telling someone to keep still. Unlike English, Spanish diminutives can be applied not only to nouns (gatito) but to adjectives (quietecito) and adverbs (rapidito).

Morphology of -ito/-ita

Diminutives are formed in the following ways

• replacing the last vowel by -ito/ita, or adding -ito/ita to the last consonant: perro/perrito, papel/papelito. If the word ends in the diphthongs io/ia then only one i is left: despacio/despacito.
• adding -cito/-cita: corazón/corazoncito, duende/duendecito/duendecita.
• replacing the last vowel by -ecito/-ecita, or adding -ecito/ecita to the last consonant: quieto/quietecito, pez/pececito, tren/trencito/trenecito.
• adding -cecito/-cecita: pie/piecito/piececito.

Regular formation of diminutives

• Words ending in unstressed o/a or diphthongs io/ia replace it by -ito/-ita: gata/gatita, Julio/Julito, vacío/vaciíto, feo/feíto.
• Words ending in unstressed e/i/u or stressed vowel add -cito/-cita:: duende/duendecito/duendecita, whisky/whiskicito, sofá/sofacito.
• Words ending in n or r add -cito/-cita: camión/camioncito, motor/motorcito.
• Words ending in another consonant add -ito/-ita: farol/farolito, lápiz/lapicito.
• The diminutive is formed from the masculine and/or singular form. Patrón->patroncito/patroncita, not patrona->*patronita. agua->agüita->agüitas->paragüitas and not paraguas->*paraguasito.

(*) indicates non-existent word.

It follows that all diminutives ending in -ecito/-ecita are irregular.

Some irregular diminutives: novio/noviecito, pez/pececito, Carlos/Carlitos, mano/manito/manita (manita is used in México and Spain), caliente/calentito.

Defective words

Many words lack a diminutive, such as edad/*edadita, bondad/*bondadita, ciudad/*ciudadita (but maldad/maldadita), útil/*utilito (but fácil/facilito), lunes/*lunesito, …, viernes/*viernesito (but sábado/sabadito, domingo/dominguito), espacio/*espacito (but despacio/despacito), lenguaje/*lenguajito/*lenguajecito, apetito/*apetitito, termita/*termitita.

On the other hand there are diminutives that are never used, such as autentiquito, peliagudito, emigrantito, cabellerita.

Diminutives of diminutives

chico/chiquito/chiquitito; poco/poquito/poquitito.

-ico/-ica

In some countries, particularly Colombia and Cuba the endings tito/tita are replaced by tico/tica: zapato/zapatico (preferred to zapatito). Other examples: pato/patico, rato/ratico.

Other diminutive suffixes

• -illo/-illa: venado/venadillo, mujer/mujercilla. (Affectionate, pejorative.)
• -ico/-ica: perrico/perrica
• -ucho/-ucha:casa/ casucha. (Pejorative.)
• -ín/ina: pequeñín/pequeñina. (Affectionate.)
• -uelo/uela: ladrón/ ladronzuelo/ladronzuela. (Affectionate.)
• -ete/-eta: viejo/vejete. (Pejorative.)
• -uco/-uca: perro/perruco. (Pejorative. Used mainly in Cantabria.)

Words originated from diminutives

Some diminutives have evolved to be new words. For example, a knob is a small pear (perilla). These words may have their own diminutives (perillita).

• pera: pear; perilla: knob
• mano: hand; manecilla: clock hand
• chico: boy; chiquillo: lad
• bolso: bag; bolsillo: pocket
• balanza: scale, balance; balancín: seesaw

Regional Variations

The variation of diminutives across regions is not uncommon. For example, while the standard diminutive of the word sol (sun) is solecito (little sun), solcito is more common in Argentina.

To highlight the regional aspect of the use of diminutives, consider the term ticos, the name the Costa Ricans are called and proudly call themselves due to their ubiquitous use of the -tico ending to form diminutives. For example, momentico, pizzatica, perritico, chiquitico, etc. The -ico suffix is used in some regions of Spain and the Caribbean to form some uncommon diminutives, such as perrico, which is a diminutive of perro (dog) instead of the more common perrito.