July 14, 1999

hypocoristic

Ok, I'll bite. What does "hypocoristic" mean? You used it in your piece on ducky. Sometimes I think you do that subconsciously.

Sorry about that. I actually have wanted to use hypocoristic on a number of occasions, the way I do in my daily speech, but usually manage to remember to replace it with "nickname" or something like that.

The word hypocoristic is not uncommon in linguistics. As an adjective, it means 'endearing, as a pet name or a diminutive'; as a noun, 'a hypocoristic form; a pet name or a diminutive'. The adjective is much more common.

Hypocoristic forms are, as the definition says, generally either pet names, or nicknames, such as Harry for Henry or Betsy or Beth or Liz or about a zillion others for Elizabeth, or they are forms with some sort of diminutive element, such as the suffix -y/-ie, yielding such words as preppy (prep (school) + -y), kiddie, birdie, cutie, and the like.

The word hypocoristic is ultimately from Greek, from a verb meaning 'to call by endearing names', from hypo- +korizesthai 'to caress', from a word for 'a boy' or 'a girl' and the precursor of our -ize suffix. Some other forms are hypocorism 'a pet name' or 'the use of pet names' and hypocoristic(ally). The earliest form dates from the early seventeenth century.

And now that you all know what it means, I will be using the word instead of talking down to you from here on. Consider yourself warned!