-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
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