1007: Augmentatives Sep 11, 2017

There are a number of English words that have endings like '-et' which historically were diminutive suffixes from other languages, but English does not use these sorts of suffixes anymore, and instead just use adjectives for the most part. Modern English also does not really use augmentative suffixes, which, opposite to diminutives, indicate an increased size of something, even though other languages like Italian have plenty. Instead, English has a few augmentative prefixes, such as 'over-' as in 'overlord', 'mega-' as in 'megachurch', or 'arch-' as in 'archenemy' which can carry the sense of 'physically large' but also just intensify whatever they are bound to. These prefixes, also including 'super-' and 'grand-', are fairly common in certain words, like those mentioned before, but they can be added fairly freely to new ones; if you know any contemporary examples, write a comment. Indeed, so long as someone is able to think the noun by itself, one can add one of these prefixes to invent a new term. There are also a few new augmentative affixes; the prefix 'über-' was adopted from German in the 1990's, and some have even said that the suffix '-zilla' from 'Godzilla', now found in words like 'bridezilla', demonstrates monstrousness and is an augmentative affix.