-azzu

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin -aceum/-acium. Compare Catalan -às/-aci, Italian -azzo/-accio, Galician and Spanish -azo, Portuguese -aço, French -asse.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /-ˈatt͡su/, [-ˈatt͡sʊ]
  • Hyphenation: -àz‧zu

Suffix

-azzu (feminine singular -azza, masculine and feminine plural -azzi)

  1. forms augmentatives of degree: nouns expressing a successful roughness
    bonu (good) + ‎-azzu → ‎bunazzu (way good)
    corpu (blow) + ‎-azzu → ‎curpazzu (a great blow)
    piru (pear) + ‎-azzu → ‎pirazzu (an impressive pear)
    sautu (jump) + ‎-azzu → ‎sautazzu (an impressive jump)
  2. forms augmentatives of size
    Synonym: -uni
    petra (stone) + ‎-azzu → ‎pitrazza (a large stone)
    balata (flagstone) + ‎-azzu → ‎balatazza (a large flagstone)
  3. forms pejoratives: nouns expressing a negative characteric
    Cristu (Christ) + ‎-azzu → ‎Cristazzu (fucking Christ)
    Carmelu (Carmelu) + ‎-azzu → ‎Carmilazzu (fucking Carmelu)
    Vastianu (Sebastian) + ‎-azzu → ‎Vastianazzu (fucking Sebastian)
    vaneḍḍa (alley) + ‎-azzu → ‎vaniḍḍazza (a bad alley)
  4. forms augmentatives of praise: nouns expressing a slight adulation and/or admiration
    Carmelu (Carmelu) + ‎-azzu → ‎Carmilazzu (the great Carmelu)
    Vastianu (Sebastian) + ‎-azzu → ‎Vastianazzu (the great Sebastian)

Derived terms

  • -azzuna
  • -azzuni
  • -culu
  • -ellu
  • -eḍḍu
  • -icchiu-
  • -iceḍḍu
  • -inu
  • -ittu
  • -olu
  • -ulu
  • -uni
  • -uzzu
  • -uḍḍu