-lein

lein Lein LEIN léin German Alternative forms de -el -'l -l -le chiefly dialectal de -li Switzerland de -lin -elin chiefly Early New High German de -elein chiefly poetic Etymology de :inh gmh:-līn From de gmh -elīn,-līn, from de goh -ilī,-ilīn, from de gmw-pro *-ulīn *-ilīn.22 -lein Cognate to nl -lijn. Pronunciation de /laɪ̯n/ de LL-Q188 (deu)-Frank C. Müller--lein.wav de De--lein.ogg <<Germany>> (<<Berlin>>) de -lein Suffix de suffix n strong declension strong genitive -leins plural -lein or -erlein or -leins noun-forming suffixes diminutive suffixes suffix used to create a diminutive form de Kind Kindlein Usage notes In contemporary Standard German, de -lein is usual with words whose stems end in -ch or -g; thus more often de Bächlein little brook than de Bächelchen. There is a limited number of other forms that remain in common use, but for the most part de -lein now has a poetic and archaic tone. The general diminutive suffix in the written language and in northern speech is de -chen, while southern informal use prefers regional suffixes like de -le, de -li (Swabian/Alemannic) and de -erl (Austro-Bavarian). Diminutives in de -lein generally have umlaut. The endings de -e, -en, -el are all deleted before the suffix. The plural remains unchanged. However, a few nouns with a plural in de -er may carry the same ending over to the plural diminutive, and a few diminutives referring to people allow a plural in de -s. This is common with de Kindlein → de Kinderlein and de Fräulein → de Fräuleins. Most other such forms are rare. Declension n Derived terms de See also de -chen -erl -i References Further reading