VOA慢速英语2019--小量化词使许多东西变小

Diminutives² Make Many Things Smaller

Hi everyone! Do you feel like playing a little word game today? I do.

OK, here it is: I will give you the words. Your job is to identify the meanings without searching the Internet. Here is the first word: doggy.

Can you guess the meaning? Surely, you know what a dog is. But what’s a doggy? A doggy can be a small dog or a baby dog. Or, it can be a loving term for a dog of any size.

In English, adding the letter -y to the end of some words can suggest the things they describe are small or well-loved. We call this the diminutive¹.

What is a diminutive?

A diminutive can express other qualities as well – like that something is familiar, sad, or disliked. Diminutives can show warmth or kindness for a thing or person. They can also be used to insult.

Today, we will explore American English diminutives made from many word endings as well as the prefix³ mini-.

Learning diminutives can help you recognize variants⁵ of English words. It can also offer you a more natural and broader selection of vocabulary as your English becomes more fluent.

-y and -ie

Let’s start by returning to the ending -y, which is sometimes spelled i-e with no change in meaning. For instance, the word doggy can be written d-o-g-g-y or d-o-g-g-i-e.

The -y and i-e endings are used only with some words, such as the nouns birdie, doggie, mommy and daddy.

The words mommy and daddy, as you might guess, don’t refer to small parents. They are terms of familiarity and warmth.

Note the doubling of the middle letter in many of these words. That spelling also applies to some nicknames, like Nikky, taken from Nicole, or Bobby, taken from Robert.

The i-e ending is also used with some adjectives, like sweet, forming the noun sweetie and cute, forming the noun cutie.

Can you guess what sweetie and cutie mean without checking the Internet?

Note that the examples so far today are not suitable for formal English speech or writing.

And take note: Not all English words ending in -y or i-e (or any other form we’ll explore today) make a diminutive meaning. In fact, most do not. The word funny, for example, does not mean “a small amount of fun.”

-ish

Then, there is the word ending -ish. The letters i-s-h can be added to the end of many English nouns to make adjectives that mean “somewhat like” or “similar to.” With that in mind, you can likely tell me what the words blueish and reddish mean. Here’s another example: childish. Any guess as to its definition?

By the way, many of these words are suitable for most styles of English speaking and writing, including formal. Some however are more informal. Check a trusted dictionary if you are ever unsure.

-let, -lette and -ette

Next, we have -let and -lette. They sound the same and have the same meaning: smaller than usual. But one is spelled l-e-t-t-e. In other words, it has an extra t-e at the end. Both were borrowed from the French language.

Some examples of the l-e-t spelling are booklet, which is a book with only a few pages; droplet⁶, a very small drop of water; and eyelet, a very small hole. So what, then, might a piglet be?

The longer spelling – l-e-t-t-e – only forms a diminutive in a few English words, like novelette, a short novel.

The closely-related ending e-t-t-e also makes things smaller than their usual size, such as kitchenette. Surely, you can guess its meaning!

-ling

Onto words formed with ending l-i-n-g. This ending mainly changes adult animal words into baby animal words. Other times, it expresses affection for a person.

For instance, the word darling means “little dear.” A duckling is a baby duck; and a fingerling can refer to either a baby fish or a very small potato. That’s funnyish, right?

A few years ago, a company called WowWee released another kind of Fingerling – a finger-sized baby animal toy for children.

mini-

And finally, we have mini-. It is today’s only prefix. Putting mini- at the start of a word means that thing is smaller or shorter than usual or normal.

Examples include lots of kinds of vehicles, such as a minibus, minicar, minibike and minicab; and women’s clothing, like a miniskirt, minidress and minikini.

Do you have any idea what a minikini is? The original word has been shortened so you may not recognize it. I’ll give you a hint: It’s something worn at the beach.

What do you mean?

Earlier today, I told you that some diminutives can have negative meanings. Some of the terms can be critical or sarcastic⁷, depending on how they are used.

Suppose, for example, you are at a train station trying to buy a ticket. But, the machine is not working right. Someone in line behind you says, “Hey, sweetie, there are people waiting for that machine!” You can guess that they are not expressing affection.

That said, English diminutives can be some of the most useful, natural and endearing words in the English language.

I’m Alice Bryant. And I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

guess – v. to form an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much about it

prefix – n. a letter or group of letters that is added at the beginning of a word to change its meaning

variant⁴ – n. one of two or more different ways to spell or pronounce a word

vocabulary – n. all of the words known and used by a person

nickname – n. a name that is different from your real name but is what your family, friends, etc., call you

formal – adj. suitable for serious or official speech and writing

dictionary – n. a reference book that lists in alphabetical⁸ order the words of one language and shows their meanings

novel – n. a long written story usually about imaginary characters and events

hint – n. a small piece of information that helps you guess an answer or do something more easily

sarcastic – adj. using words that mean opposite of what you want to say in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny

1 diminutive   

adj.小巧可爱的，小的

参考例句：

• Despite its diminutive size,the car is quite comfortable.尽管这辆车很小，但相当舒服。
• She has diminutive hands for an adult.作为一个成年人，她的手显得非常小。

2 diminutives   

n.微小( diminutive的名词复数 )；昵称，爱称

参考例句：

3 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

4 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

5 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

6 droplet   

n.小滴，飞沫

参考例句：

• The rate of droplet growth under different conditions can be evaluated.可以计算在不同条件下的云滴增长率。
• The test results showed that increasing droplet size was associated with better stability.试验结果表明，增加液滴尺寸将使稳定性提高。

7 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

8 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。