-cilla

cilla Cilla Spanish Etymology From -c-, a formant found originally in la -culus (rebracketed from la -ulus added to nouns ending in la -cus), + es -illa. Suffix fes diminutive suffixes es -cillo; added to feminine nouns to form diminutives es mujer woman mujercilla small woman es fuente spring, fountain fuentecilla small spring, small fountain es canción song cancioncilla ditty, tune es nube cloud nubecilla small cloud es reñir to fight, to quarrel rencilla quarrel, row es pobre poor pobrecilla poor thing referring to a female es pastora shepherdess pastorcilla little shepherdess es gente people gentecilla proletariat, riffraff derogatory Usage notes In most cases, es -ecilla is used simply to indicate a small or endeared thing, without changing the basic meaning of the noun; however, in some cases, it is used to effect a greater change in meaning, as shown in the examples above. Derived terms es Related terms es -illa -ecilla -cecilla See also es -ita, es -cita, es -ecita, es -cecita Further reading -cillo