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Concept
Augmentative
Summary
An augmentative (abbreviated ) is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size but also in other attributes. It is the opposite of a diminutive.
Overaugmenting something often makes it grotesque and so in some languages, augmentatives are used primarily for comical effect or as pejoratives.
Many languages have augmentatives for nouns, and some have augmentatives for verbs.
In modern English, augmentatives can be created with the prefixes:
over-: e.g., overlord and overqualified.
grand-: e.g., grandmaster and grandparent.
super-: e.g., supermarket and superpower.
mega-: e.g., megastore and megastar.
arch-: e.g., archrival and archangel.
Since the early 1990s, the prefix über- or uber- has also frequently been used as a borrowing from German. The suffix -zilla, expressing a monstrous quality, can also be considered an augmentative form.
In some parts of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the prefix "auld" is used as an augmentative, and a pejorative in some cases. An example of this is using "auld'un" or "auld one" to describe one's parents/grandparents.
In modern Dutch, as in English, augmentatives are usually created with the prefixes:
over-: e.g., overgewicht and oververhitting ("overweight" and "overheating")
groot-: e.g., grootmeester and groothandel ("grandmaster" and "wholesaler")
super-: e.g., supermarkt and supermacht ("supermarket" and "superpower").
mega-: e.g., megacontract and megabioscoop ("a very big contract" and "a very large movie theater")
There are also prefixes that can be used for some adjectives:
bloed- (blood) : e.g., bloedmooi and bloedeigen ("very beautiful" and "very own")
steen- (stone): e.g., steenrijk and steengoed ("very rich" and "very good"; lit. "stone rich" and "stone good")
kei- (boulder): e.g., keihard and keileuk ("very fast/hard/etc." and "very fun", lit. "boulder hard" and "boulder fun")
In German, there are different ways to build augmentatives. They are rarely used prefixes:
un-, for instance in Unzahl "huge number", Unsumme "huge sum", Unmenge "huge quantity".
Official source
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