-льо

Bulgarian

Etymology

Agentive suffix, back-formed from the adjectival suffix Proto-Slavic *-livъ (“-ly, -ish”) + -ьо (-jo, “diminutive suffix”). Eventually, its application has been extended to form diminutive counter-parts of masculine nouns in -ъл (-ǎl), -ел (-el), -ал (-al) (from Proto-Slavic *-ъlъ, *-ьlъ, *-alъ).

Suffix

-льо • (-ljo) n

1. Forms diminutive agent nouns, often with pejorative meaning:

   Synonyms: -ко (-ko); -чо (-čo)

   From verbs:

   • сърдя (sǎrdja, “to sulk”) → сръдлив (srǎdliv, “grumpy”) → сръдльо (srǎdljo, “grump”)
   • крада (krada, “to steal”) → крадлив (kradliv, “prone to stealing, thievish”) → крадльо (kradljo, “lifter, thief”)
   • лъжа (lǎža, “to lie”) → лъжлив (lǎžliv, “prone to lying, bogus, fake”) → лъжльо (lǎžljo, “lair”)
   • пикая (pikaja, “to piss”) → пиклив (pikliv, “pissing”) → пикльо (pikljo, “brat, bed-wetter”)

   From nouns:

   • мухъл (muhǎl, “mold”) → мухльо (muhljo, “fool, wretch”)
   • петел (petel, “rooster”) → петльо (petljo, “rooster, cockerel”) (diminutive)
   • бухал (buhal, “owl”) → бухльо (buhljo, “owl”) (diminutive)
   • охлюв (ohljuv, “snail”) → охльо (ohljo, “snail”) (diminutive)

   From adjectives:

   • рошав (rošav, “shaggy, uncombed”) → рошльо (rošljo, “shock head”)

Inflection

Inflection of -льо

	singular	plural
indefinite	-льо	-льовци
definite	-льото	-льовците
vocative form	-льо	-льовци

Derived terms

Bulgarian terms suffixed with -льо

Further reading

• Radeva, V. (1987): "наставка -льо" in Българското словообразуване, Sofia, p. 15