hypocorism

Word origin

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”)).

Used in a sentence

• “For the flattering hypocorisms of lovers and parents see Plut. de Leg. Poet. p. 44; [...]”

• “St Peter's cult, which dates from the earliest period in Brittany, is represented in the toponymy only in the radical form of his name, without hypocorism or mutation.”

• “An acronym that never seems to have had capital letters comes from "young urban professional", plus the -ie suffix, as in hypocorism, to produce the word yuppie (first recorded in 1984).”

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0