- a word or an ending of a word that shows that somebody/something is small, for example piglet (= a young pig), kitchenette (= a small kitchen)指小词,指小词缀(如 piglet 小猪,kitchenette 小厨房)
- a short informal form of a word, especially a name(单词,尤指名字的)非正式缩略形式
- ‘Nick’ is a common diminutive of ‘Nicholas’.Nick 是 Nicholas 的常用简称。
Word Originlate Middle English (as a grammatical term): from Old French diminutif, -ive, from late Latin diminutivus, from Latin deminut- ‘diminished’, from the verb deminuere, from minuere ‘make small’.