You searched for: “hypocorism
hypocorism
1. A pet name; especially, a diminutive or abbreviated form of someone's full name: "We called him Billy as a hypocorism for William."
2. The use of a pet name to address someone, instead of his or her full name.
3. A name of endearment; a pet name.
4. Etymology: from Late Latin hypocorisma, from Greek hupokorisma, from hupokorizesthai, "to call by endearing names".
This entry is located in the following units: coris- (page 1) -ism, -ismus (page 28)