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hypocorism.

A term of endearment, often a diminutive; a pet name.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/haɪˈpɒ.kəˌɹɪ.zəm/Received-Pronunciation/hɪ-/Received-Pronunciation/haɪˈpɑ.kəˌɹɪ.zəm/General-American
  1. A term of endearment, often a diminutive; a pet name.

    countable
  2. The formation of terms of endearment or pet names.

    uncountable
  3. Baby talk, such as bow-wow for dog and choo-choo for train.

    rare · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Late Latin hypocorisma, a loan from Ancient Greek ὑποκόρισμα (hupokórisma), ὑποκορισμός (hupokorismós, “pet name”), from ὑποκορίζεσθαι (hupokorízesthai), ὑποκορίζομαι (hupokorízomai, “to use a pet name; to act in a childish manner”), from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, prefix indicating a small degree) + κορίζομαι (korízomai, “to caress”) (from κόρος (kóros, “boy; youth”), κόρη (kórē, “girl; young woman”)).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.