Hypocorism
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Redirect Template:Sister project A hypocorism (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell or Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; from Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; sometimes also hypocoristic), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as Izzy for Isabel or Bob for Robert, or it may be unrelated.
Origins and usageEdit
Etymologically, the term hypocorism is from Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), meaning 'to call by endearing names'. The prefix {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} refers in this case to creating a diminutive, something that is smaller in a tender or affectionate sense; the root {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} originates in the Greek for 'to caress' or 'to treat with tokens of affection', and is related to the words {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) 'boy, youth' and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) 'girl, young woman'.
In linguistics, the term can be used more specifically to refer to the morphological process by which the standard form of the word is transformed into a form denoting affection, or to words resulting from this process. In English, a word is often clipped down to a closed monosyllable and then suffixed with ‑y or ‑ie (phonologically Template:IPAc-en).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Sometimes the suffix -o is included as well as other forms<ref name=lingoblog>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Simpson2008">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=lipski1995>Template:Cite news</ref> or templates.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>