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Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc


Kitte
12 Mar 2020   #1
I speak no Polish, and I'd like to know the diminutives for bakery-related words. Loaves, bread, slices, toast, etc. Any baked good.

For example, how would one say something like, itty bitty baby loaf? As though speaking to an infant.
ForumUser
12 Mar 2020   #2
Here's a list of Polish food categories, most foods have diminutive options, which you'll see if you click each food name

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:pl:Foods
OP Kitte
12 Mar 2020   #3
Thanks! I'm most interested in something more specific to baby-talk than I think this link focuses on.
pawian  221 | 26102
12 Mar 2020   #4
itty bitty baby loaf

Chlebuś.
OP Kitte
12 Mar 2020   #5
@pawian
Ahh, thank you!

Would another diminutive make it 'cuter'? Is 'Chlebuśka' an even smaller loaf? Or does that have different implications?
Atch  24 | 4368
12 Mar 2020   #6
You can't say 'Chlebuśka' because of the rules of Polish grammar :) the noun 'chleb' is masculine and therefore can't take an 'uszka' ending. You can say 'chlebek' but that's not especially cute, just a regular diminutive, more like speaking coloquially.

A bread roll is a 'bułka' which is a feminine noun. The diminutive of that is 'bułeczka', the plural 'bułeczki'. Again, you will hear people using those diminutives all the time, not just to children, but in everyday interactions. For example, a customer in a bakery may ask for ten 'bułeczki', rather than 'bułki' which is the standard/dictionary form of 'rolls'.

It's a major feature of the language, the cute-ifying and diminuifying of words :)
OP Kitte
12 Mar 2020   #7
@Atch
That's very informative, thank you! Diminutives are such a neat thing!
pawian  221 | 26102
12 Mar 2020   #8
Is 'Chlebuśka' an even smaller loaf? Or does that have different implications?

Not in nominative case. But if you really want to use it, you can. When there`s a will, there`s a way, too. :)
So, instead of saying chlebusia in accusative case: Chcesz pysznego chlebusia? Wanna yummy itsy bitsy bread? you could say: chlebuśka which is a variation of chlebusia. A possible invention but not as cute.
Lyzko  41 | 9694
12 Mar 2020   #9
I can remember seeing many of the above expressions in Brooklyn's Polish bakeries.
pawian  221 | 26102
12 Mar 2020   #10
When the owner of the bakery bore the surname: Chlebus ! :)


  • Chlebus_surname.jpg
Lyzko  41 | 9694
12 Mar 2020   #11
Surname Chlebus, interesting.
Where is Surname's bakery located? Not familiar with that one.
pawian  221 | 26102
12 Mar 2020   #12
I saw one in Williamsburg. It was owned by a Polish Jew, a very amiable man.
pawian  221 | 26102
12 Mar 2020   #13
slices, toast, etc.

Slice - kromeczka/kromusia
Toast - tościk.

etc - sorry, you need to exactly say in English what you want to hear as Polish diminutive.
Lyzko  41 | 9694
12 Mar 2020   #14
Buleczki were what I had at that Polish backery, Moniuszko it was called, if I remember correctly!
jon357  73 | 23224
12 Mar 2020   #15
Buleczki

Do you know the song 'bubliczki'?
Lyzko  41 | 9694
12 Mar 2020   #16
I'm afraid I don't.
However, it almost looks like a Russian-Yiddish word "bubliczka" (my own faulty transcription, no doubtLOL) my maternal grandmother used about me.

No relation to bread, I'm sure:-)
jon357  73 | 23224
12 Mar 2020   #17
There's a bakery connection. Worth googling the song. The Beata Rybotycka version is the popular one here.

I think the original is in Yiddish, however the Polish-language version is well established.

"Ach, kupcież bubliczki,
Gorące bubliczki,
Gdy macie rubliczki,
Nakarmię was! "
Lyzko  41 | 9694
12 Mar 2020   #18
Lovin' it, jon!
Stuff like this is great, thanks:-)
OP Kitte
13 Mar 2020   #19
Oh wow, This is really great info! I was doing so poking around to find 'crumb' as well, I found okruch > okruszynka is that a smaller crumb? Like a baby crumling?
johnny reb  48 | 8003
13 Mar 2020   #20
Close words of the Polish language for the word 'crumb' there are a total of 175 synonyms.
These synonyms are divided into 13 different meaning groups.
Check out the synonyms for crumb on THESAURUS.COM
This site is a great place to learn big words to make you sound smart.
I obviously have never found time to use it.


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