-ie

• -ee, -ey

• enPR: -ē
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, New Zealand, India) IPA^(key): /-iː/
• (General American, Canada, Scotland) IPA^(key): /-i/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Hyphenation: -ie

Variant spelling of -y, heavily influenced by the cognate Scots -ie.

The diminutive suffix originated in Northern Middle English and Middle Scots. It was historically restricted to Scotland and Northern England until the late 18th and 19th centuries, when it was borrowed into Standard English and highly popularized by the success of Scottish literature.

-ie

2. Forming diminutive or affectionate forms of nouns or names.

   Synonyms: (suffixes) -cule, -ee, -el, -et, -ette, -icle, -kin, -le, -let, -ling, -ole, -ule, -y, (prefixes) mini-, micro-, nano-

   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl:

     “Polly, I wish you ’d let me call you Marie,” said Fanny one day, as they were shopping together. ¶ “You may call me Mary, if you like; but I won’t have any ie put on to my name. I’m Polly at home and I’m fond of being called so; but Marie is Frenchified and silly.” ¶ “I spell my own name with an ie, and so do all the girls.” ¶ “And what a jumble of Netties, Nellies, Hatties, and Sallies there is. How ‘Pollie’ would look spelt so!”

   dear → dearie

   sweet → sweetie

   smile → smilie (also smiley)

   Catherine → Cathie (also Cathi, Cathy); Katherine → Kathie (also Kathi, Kathy)

   Bill → Billie (also Billi, Billy)

4. Forming feminine or gender‐neutral forms of given names.

   Jesse → Jessie

   Bill → Billie

   James → Jamie

6. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand, UK) Forms colloquial clippings (often functioning as familiarizers), truncating the root to a single stressed syllable.

   Australia/Australian → Aussie

   mosquito → mozzie

   position → possie

   costume → cossie

   barbecue → barbie

   biscuit → bikkie

8. (occasionally derogatory) Forming colloquial nouns signifying the person or thing associated with the suffixed noun or verb.

   bike → bikie

   fridge → fridgie (“fridge magnet”)

   road → roadie

   surf → surfie

   town → townie

10. Forming nouns relative to an adjective.

    slow → slowie

    small → smallie

    tough → toughie

12. Forming colloquial interjections or phrases.

    alright → alrightie

    eww → ewwie

    good → goodie

    oops → oopsie

    ow → owie

• The ⟨‐ie⟩ spelling is more common than ⟨‐y⟩ when used to create words for people. Thus hippie is preferred over hippy.
• In Commonwealth slang (particularly in Australia and New Zealand), a sociolinguistic distinction is often made between true affectionate diminutives (sense 1) and colloquial familiarizers (sense 3). Diminutives typically preserve phonetic fidelity to the root word to maintain clear affection (retaining a voiceless /s/, as in Jessie). Familiarizers, however, signal egalitarian in‐group solidarity and actively distort the root’s phonology, most notably by leniting an intervocalic /s/ to a voiced /z/ (as in Aussie, mozzie, or possie).

Variant spelling of -y (adjectival suffix).

-ie

2. (now rare) Alternative spelling of -y (adjectival suffix).

   hug → huggie

Back-formation from selfie.

-ie

2. A photograph, especially a selfie.

• E/I, EI

• -etjie
• -jie
• -kie
• -pie
• -tjie

From Dutch -je.

• IPA^(key): /i/

• Audio:

  (file)

-ie (plural -ies)

1. Forms a diminutive noun

• The suffix -ie is used in nouns that end in -b, -f, -g, -k, -p, -s. Nouns ending in other sounds use one of the alternative forms above.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪjɛ]
• Rhymes: -ɪjɛ

-ie f (noun-forming suffix)

1. a suffix denoting a branch of science or study, similar to -ics

   Synonym: -ika

• ekonomie
• ekonometrie
• pediatrie
• psychometrie

• -nomie
• -logie

• -ie/-erie/-érie in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017

From Middle Dutch -ie, ultimately from Latin -ia.

-ie f

2. a variant of -ij

Ultimately from Latin -iō.

-ie f

2. -ion, -y

Dialectal (especially Hollandic) contraction of -je. In some of these areas, the pronoun je (“you”) may similarly contract (wat denkie, wat heppie, etc.).

-ie n

2. (Netherlands, informal) a variant of -je, a suffix forming diminutive nouns and informal adjectives

• Afrikaans: -ie

Borrowed from Latin -ia, a suffix used to create abstract nouns, and from Ancient Greek -ία (-ía), -εια (-eia).

• IPA^(key): /i/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

-ie f (noun-forming suffix, plural -ies)

1. indicates a feminine noun, often an abstract one

• “-ie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from or influenced by French -ie. Replaces Latin -ia in modern loans. Doublet of -ei.

• IPA^(key): /-iː/

-ie f (plural -ien)

1. Designates a feminine, usually abstract noun, from Latin or French roots.

In the abstract noun sense, the plural is usually rarely used.

• IPA^(key): /je/, /ˈi.e/
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: -ie, -ì‧e

-ie

1. feminine plural of -io

-ie

1. vocative masculine singular of -ius

Borrowed from Old French -ie, from Latin -ia.

• -y, -ye, -e

-ie

1. A suffix designating abstract or collective nouns, typically of French or Latin origin.

• English: -y, -ie

• “-i(e, suf.(4).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 June 2018.

-ie

1. alternative form of -ien (infinitival suffix)

-ie

1. alternative form of -y

-ie

1. alternative form of -yf

-ie

1. indicates a feminine noun, often an abstract one

• French: -ie

Borrowed from Old French -ie, from Latin -ia.

-īe f

1. used to create female abstract nouns

• German: -ei
• Yiddish: ־ײַ (-ay)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-ьje.

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈi̯ɛː/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈiː/

-ie n (noun-forming suffix)

1. forming nouns referring to collections

   ‎dřěvo + ‎-ie → ‎dřievie

• This suffix causes first palatalisation of the preceding consonant.

• Czech: -í

-ie

1. alternative form of -iġe

From Latin -ia; compare -erie.

-ie

1. indicates a feminine noun, often an abstract one

• Middle French: -ie
  • French: -ie
• Middle High German: -ie
• Middle English: -ie
  • English: -y, -ie

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-e.

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /iɛ/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /iɛ/

-ie

1. forms adverbs from adjectives

   ‎niewymowny + ‎-ie → ‎niewymownie

• Polish: -ie

• -o

• -e

Inherited from Old Polish -ie.

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

-ie

1. forms adverbs from adjectives

   ‎wybitny + ‎-ie → ‎wybitnie

• -o

Probably from Latin -īlia, neuter plural of -īlis. Less likely from Latin -ia. Compare Aromanian -ilji, -ilje.

• IPA^(key): /ˈi.e/

-ie f (plural -ii)

1. Used with a stem to create a (usually abstract) noun relating to it; can be compared to -ship, -hood, -ness, -ity, etc.

• -ia
• -ărie
• -eață
• -ime
• -tate
• -ciune

• -y

From Middle English -y, from Old English -iġ, from Proto-West Germanic *-g.

-ie

2. Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by being appended to a noun.
4. Forming diminutive or affectionate forms of nouns or names.

• “-ie, suff.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.