Log in or Sign up
  1. hypocorism love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A name of endearment; a pet name.
  2. n. The use of such names.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A pet name.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A term of endearment; a pet name.
  2. n. Baby-talk, e.g. bow-wow for dog, choo-choo for train.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a name of endearment (especially one using a diminutive suffix)

Etymologies

  1. Late Latin hypocorisma, a loan from Ancient Greek noun ὑποκόρισμα (hypokórisma) from the verb ὑποκορίζομαι (hypokorízomai, "to talk in a childish manner"). The Ancient Greek verb ὑποκορίζομαι (hypokorízomai) is compounded from ὑπό (hypo-, "under, beneath, secretly") + κορίζομαι (korízomai, "to caress"). In the verb you can see the word κόρος (kóros, "boy") or κόρη (kórē, "girl"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Late Latin hypocorisma, from Greek hupokorisma, from hupokorizesthai, to call by endearing names : hypo-, beneath, secretly; see hypo- + korizesthai, to caress (from koros, boy or korē, girl). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “It is what Sidney Baker (The Australian Language) calls a hypocorism, a form ending in - ie, - y, or - ey, or”

    Verbatim: VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VII No 2

  • “Now you would think President Obama's stimulus bill would have a earmark to rebuild these levees around the country but it does not but the outrage the liberals threw at Bush for doing nothing smells of hypocorism.”

    CNN Political Ticker

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. sobriquet
  1. pet name
  1. nickname

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. name

tags (5)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. language
  1. linguistics
  1. dfw
  1. cvcvcvcvcc
  1. sm

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘hypocorism’.

More lists containing ‘hypocorism’

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • treeseed Pronunciation: \hī-ˈpä-kə-ˌri-zəm; ˌhī-pə-ˈkȯr-ˌi-\ Feb 23, 2008

  • slumry Fortunately for me I don't expect to be asked to pronounce it anytime soon! Jul 25, 2007

  • seanahan Don't let it fool you, this word is pronounced very strangely. Jul 25, 2007

  • slumry a pet name Jul 25, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for hypocorism.

‘hypocorism’ has been looked up 2474 times, loved by 7 people, added to 30 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 22.