Augmentatives and Diminutives in the Japanese Language?

Question

Augmentatives and Diminutives are modifications (like affixes) that "increase" or "decrease" the "value" of some word's meaning: Overlord, duckling.

I found this question about diminutives on this forum already, is there all that is to it? How about augmentatives?

Therefore my question is: Could one decrease or increase the meaning of a word like "tree" by modifying the word? (German example: Baum -> Bäumchen (small) -> Riesenbaum (big)).

Update:

Found some. There are many augmentative morphemes, and they can be read in both ways (japanese and sino-japanese) depending on their host. For example 大 (allomorphs: "dai"/"oo"): 大木 ("daiboku": Big tree), 大雨 ("ooame": Heavy rain).

Others are (with one chosen example.This is no full list.):

• 真 (真白:Pure white),
• 激 (激臭:Sharp smell),
• 過 (過労:Overwork),
• 超 (超電導:Superconductivity),
• 主( 主食:Staple food),
• 正 (正門:Main/"correct" gate).

There are also a bit more complicated 母 (母艦:Main warship/Mothership) and 親 (親柱:Main pillar) which seem to have the meaning of "boss", "main", or "big".

Lastly, augmentation is possible through reduplication, for example 深い/fukai/ -> 深々/fukabuka/(deep -> Very deep).

Answer 1

I think the most straight-up answer is to use 大 and 小.

For example:

• 雪{ゆき}　→ 大雪{おおゆき}
• 川{かわ} → 小川{おがわ}
• 山{やま} → 大山{おおやま}
• 猫{ねこ} → 小猫{こねこ}　(alternatively 子猫{こねこ}・仔猫{こねこ})
• 雨{あめ} → 大雨{たいう}・大雨{おおあめ}
• 木{き} → 大木{たいぼく}
• 樹{き} → 大樹{たいじゅ}
• 牛{うし} → 小牛{こうし} (alternatively 子牛{こうし}・仔牛{こうし}・犢{こうし})
• 鼓{つづみ} → 小鼓{しょうこ}

I think you see the pattern here. While the Kanji is 大 and 小, their reading can vary. On the other hand, with animals, sometimes 子/仔 is used in place of 小 but the reading remains the same. 大 can be おお・だい・たい while 小 can be しょう・こ・お(this one is rare) depending on the combination. You kind of just have to learn them one by one but there is a pattern once you see enough of these.

Answer 2

I have never seen 大 and 小 as prefixes. They explicitly tell something is big or small just like 赤 tells something is red.

I can think of only one word that I think more or less fits the definition of a diminutive: 豆. This indicates something is small in size. It only goes with certain words, though.

• 豆電球
• 豆タンク
• 豆柴

As for augmentatives, I think ど might qualify. It indicates the degree of something is greater than normal. It’s informal.

• ど真ん中
• どケチ
• どフリー (completely unmarked in certain sports)