-ciño

Galician

Alternative forms

• -cín (Eastern Galician)

Etymology

From -c- +‎ -iño. Compare Portuguese -zinho.

Suffix

-ciño m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ciños, feminine -ciña, feminine plural -ciñas)

1. Alternative form of -iño

   ‎furón (“ferret”) + ‎-ciño → ‎furonciño (“wood mouse”)

   ‎can (“dog”) + ‎-ciño → ‎canciño (“little dog; pup”)

Usage notes

• Used when the end sound of a word is a nasal, semivowel or vowel and the word is an oxytone; sometimes with semantic shift from the original noun.
• Traditionally, this suffix attaches to words with stress on the last syllable, while those ending in unstressed -o, -a or -e use -iño (or -iña for feminine words).

Derived terms

From

Galician terms suffixed with -ciño

.