-wasú

Nheengatu

Alternative forms

• -asú, -usú (archaic)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Tupi -gûasu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [waˈsu]
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: -wa‧sú

Suffix

-wasú

1. forms the augmentative; big
2. forms an expression of abundant quantity; much
3. forms an expression of intensity; very

Usage notes

• This suffix may occur with pronouns, as in nhaãwasú (“that big one”). It can also occur after the plural suffix -itá, although this is infrequent. An incipient process of grammaticalization is the use of -wasú as the base for word-forming affixes, as in yumuwasú (“to grow”).

Derived terms

Nheengatu terms suffixed with -wasú

paranawasú

pirawasú

yakarewasú

References

• Marcel Twardowsky Avila (2021) “-wasú”, in Proposta de dicionário nheengatu-português [Nheengatu–Portuguese dictionary proposal] (in Portuguese), São Paulo: USP, →DOI, page 818