iminutive

iminutive noun: in Yiddish, a second-degree or more intensive diminutive form.

Noun

iminutive (plural not attested)

(no plural, rare) In Yiddish, a second-degree or more intensive diminutive form.
- What is not common, however, in German dialects is the existence of an intensive diminutive (or, as it sometimes is called, an iminutive) having the shape -ele.1984, A Faber, RD King, “Yiddish and the settlement of Ashkenazic Jewry”, in Mankind quarterly, volume 24, page 393
- Faber and King note that Yiddish and Bavarian both have an "intensive diminutive," i.e., a second degree of diminution (iminutive); thus, StY štot 'city,' štetl 'market town', štetɘlɘ 'little market town [endearing].'2005, Neil G. Jacobs, Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction

The main point in the diminutive and iminutive system is, however, not only that elements of two dialectally different subsystems of German have fused in the German component.2008, Max Weinreich, History of the Yiddish Language:
In addition to the diminutive, Yiddish has an 'iminutive', which is used to indicate that something is even smaller (as well as cuter, more lovable, or possibly more inferior) than a diminutive noun.2015, Lily Kahn, Colloquial Yiddish:

Back-formation from diminutive.

What does iminutive mean?: Iminutive means in Yiddish, a second-degree or more intensive diminutive form.
How do you use iminutive in a sentence?: The main point in the diminutive and iminutive system is, however, not only that elements of two dialectally different subsystems of German have fused in the German component.
What part of speech is iminutive?: Iminutive is a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: iminutive (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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