hypocorism

Noun

hypocorism (countable and uncountable, plural hypocorisms)

1. (countable) A term of endearment, often a diminutive; a pet name.
   • "Mary" is informed that "Polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or pet-names, in which our language abounds. Most are mere abbreviations, as Will, Nat, Pat, Bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning, sometimes from the end of the name.1850 February 2, Benj[amin] H[all] Kennedy, “Pet-names”, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc., volume I, number 16, London...
   • For the flattering hypocorisms of lovers and parents see Plut. de Leg. Poet. p. 44; [...]1865, Frederic W[illiam] Farrar, “The Nature of Words”, in Chapters on Language, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, footnote 3, pages 281–282

   Synonyms:

   hypocoristic, hypocoristicon, nickname, pet form, pet name, sobriquet

2. (uncountable) The formation of terms of endearment or pet names.
   • 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.2000, Karen Jankulak, “The Cult of St Petroc in Cornwall”, in The Medieval Cult of St Petroc (Studies in Celtic History; 19), Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 42
   • 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).2010, George Yule, “Word Formation”, in The Study of Language, 4th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 60
3. (rare, uncountable) Baby talk, such as bow-wow for dog and choo-choo for train.
   • In European languages reduplication is often associated with hypocorism or baby talk (e.g. wee-wee, or French bonbon) but this is not the case in the Atlantic creoles and the Niger-Congo languages.1988, John Holm, “Lexicosemantics”, in Pidgins and Creoles (Cambridge Language Surveys), volumes I (Theory and Structure), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press...