-zinho

Portuguese Etymology pt :af -z- -inho + 1 Pronunciation pt zi nho Suffix m -zinha attached to masculine nouns attached to adjectives Variant of pt -inho, used especially when the preceding letter is a semivowel or when the word is an oxytone. pt -zão pt pá<t:shovel> -zinha pazinha<t:small shovel> pt café<t:coffee> cafezinho<t:small cup of coffee> pt só sozinho<t:lonely; very much alone> pt eu<t:I> euzinho<t:little old me> pt Manuel Henriques Carvalho “TAP pode ser TAPzinha se IAG comprar a empresa” Observador https://observador.pt/programas/resposta-pronta/tap-pode-ser-tapzinha-se-o-iag-comprar-a-empresa/ 2022-11-01 “TAP can become little TAP if the company is bought by IAG.” https://web.archive.org/web/20221225145015/https://observador.pt/programas/resposta-pronta/tap-pode-ser-tapzinha-se-o-iag-comprar-a-empresa/ 25 December 2022 Usage notes Traditionally, this suffix attaches to words with stress on the last syllable, while those ending in unstressed -o, -a or -e use pt -inho (or pt -inha for feminine words). Increasingly, however, this rule is being broken, and pairs like pt alicatinho and pt alicatezinho (based on pt alicate pliers), pt gritinho and pt gritozinho (based on pt grito scream), and pt hortinha and pt hortazinha (based on pt horta vegetable garden) are found. pt -zinho is a cyclic suffix, and the preceding component maintains its own stressed syllable (which is downgraded to secondary stress but maintains its vowel quality unchanged). The endings -o and -e after the preceding component are treated as word-final, hence e.g. pt alicatezinho is pronounced /a.liˌka.t͡ʃiˈzĩ.ɲu/ in Brazil. Derived terms pt Further reading