-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
    iwituwasú
    paranawasú
    pirawasú
    yakarewasú

    References

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