Hypocorism
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Redirect Template:Wiktionary A hypocorism (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell or Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; from Ancient Greek Template:Lang Template:Lang; sometimes also hypocoristic), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite 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 usage
Etymologically, the term hypocorism is from Ancient Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang), from Template:Lang (Template:Lang), meaning 'to call by endearing names'. The prefix Template:Lang refers in this case to creating a diminutive, something that is smaller in a tender or affectionate sense; the root Template:Lang originates in the Greek for 'to caress' or 'to treat with tokens of affection', and is related to the words Template:Lang (Template:Lang) 'boy, youth' and Template:Lang (Template: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>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Simpson2008">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=lipski1995>Template:Cite news</ref> or templates.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>