Portuguese

Suffix

-inho m ‎(feminine -inha, plural -inhos, feminine plural -inhas)

1. forms the diminutive of nouns
   1. indicates smallness, shortness, youth, fewness, etc.

      casa ‎(“house”) + ‎-inha → ‎casinha ‎(“small house”)

      criança ‎(“child”) + ‎-inha → ‎criancinha ‎(“young child”)

      texto ‎(“text”) + ‎-inho → ‎textinho ‎(“short text”)

      pipoca ‎(“popcorn”) + ‎-inha → ‎pipoquinha ‎(“a small portion of popcorn”)

   2. belittles the suffixed noun

      time + ‎-inho → ‎timinho ‎(“a bad sports team”)

      país + ‎-inho → ‎paisinho ‎(“a country of little importance; a powerless country”)

2. (somewhat informal) forms the diminutive of adjectives, roughly equivalent to English somewhat or kind of

   grande ‎(“big”) + ‎-inho → ‎grandinho ‎(“somewhat big”)

3. (informal) forms the diminutive of pronouns
   1. indicates smallness

      aquele ‎(“that one”) + ‎-zinho → ‎aquelezinho ‎(“that small one”)

   2. intensifies or emphasises personal pronouns

      eu ‎(“I”) + ‎-zinho → ‎euzinho ‎(“I … myself”)

Synonyms

• (indicates smallness): -culo, -ete, -ito, -ulo
• (belittling suffix): -eco, -ilho
• (somewhat; kind of): meio
• (emphasises personal pronouns): mesmo

Antonyms

• (indicates smallness): -ão