aumentativo

Aumentativo is a linguistic term used to describe a word form that conveys a larger size, greater intensity, or higher degree of a quality than the base word. It is a productive feature in several Iberian Romance languages, notably Spanish and Portuguese, and appears mainly in informal, regional, or expressive speech. In addition to literal size, augmentatives can signal emphasis, affection, admiration, or sometimes pejorative or humorous attitudes.

In Spanish, augmentatives are usually created with suffixes such as -ón/-ona, -ote/-ota, or -azo/-aza, and they may also occur in compounds or autonomous lexicalized forms. Examples include casón or casota from casa (big house) and arbolote from árbol (big tree). The choice of suffix and its phonological shape depend on the base word and its gender or final consonants. Augmentatives are common in colloquial speech but generally avoided in formal writing, and they often carry evaluative nuance rather than a precise size indication.

In Portuguese, augmentatives commonly use suffixes like -ão or -zão, with variants depending on phonology and word class. Casarão (a large house) and portão (a large gate) illustrate typical meanings associated with physical size or importance. Like Spanish, Portuguese augmentatives are frequent in speech and can convey affection, emphasis, or humor, while sometimes expressing pejorative or exaggerated tones.

Usage and interpretation vary by dialect and context, and augmentatives are part of a broader set of derivational processes that include diminutives and other intensity markers.