-chen

From Proto-Mongolic *-gcï (“agentive suffix”) and *-cïn. Compare Mongolian -гч (-gč), -чин (-čin).

• IPA^(key): /-t͡ʂʰən/

-chen

1. progressive participle suffix

• As with the agentive particles in other Mongolic languages, forms built using this suffix can also be used to derive names of occupations.
• The primary usage is to form relative clauses which denote an ongoing event relative to the rest of the sentence.

• -san (“perfective suffix”)
• -ku (“imperfective suffix”)

• -ken (colloquial in northern Germany)
• -gen

From Middle High German -echen, -ichen, from Old High German *-ihīn, *-uhīn, from Proto-West Germanic *-ukīn.

Native to the Central German dialects, -chen has widely replaced the southern-based -lein in standard usage. Cognate with German Low German -ken, -ke as well as Dutch -tje and -ken. More at -kin.

• IPA^(key): /çən/, [çən], [çn̩]
• The use of a syllabic nasal [n̩] is less common in this ending than otherwise. The vowel tends to be preserved and often fronted, yielding [çɪn].
• IPA^(key): /jən/ (variant, especially after fricatives like s. Never after a vowel or sonorant.)

• Audio:

  (file)

-chen n (genitive -chens, plural -chen or -erchen)

1. nowadays the most common suffix to create a diminutive form

   ‎Hund (“dog”) + ‎-chen → ‎Hündchen (“little dog”)

   ‎Backe (“cheek”) + ‎-chen → ‎Bäckchen (“little cheek”)

   ‎Nicker (“nap”) + ‎-chen → ‎Nickerchen (“catnap”)

• Words ending in the suffix -chen are always neuter, whatever the gender of the basic word.
• Generally, with few exceptions, diminutives with -chen have an umlauted stem vowel. Double vowels must be singled as the combinations ää and öö are not permitted in modern German orthography (e.g. Härchen from Haar, Bötchen from Boot).
• Word-final -e and -en are lost before the diminutive ending: Kärtchen from Karte, Gärtchen from Garten.
• Words ending in -ch (and some others) use the double suffix -elchen, e.g. Strichelchen from Strich. However, the suffix -lein is more common for these words in writing (Strichlein).
• The plural diminutive is generally unchanged, but some words with a plural in -er may carry this ending over to the plural diminutive, yielding -erchen. This is standard in Kindchen → Kinderchen; most other forms (like Lämmerchen, etc.) are slightly informal or dated.

• -lein
• -erl
• -i

• -elchen (see usage notes below)

From Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn, *-ukīn, a double diminutive, from *-ik, *-uk + *-īn.

• IPA^(key): /χen/, [ɕən]

-chen (plural -ercher or -cher)

1. creates a diminutive noun

   ‎eng Kaz (“a cat”) + ‎-chen → ‎eng Kätzchen (“a little cat, kitten”)

• Luxembourgish diminutives, unlike German, keep the gender of the basic word. With few exceptions, diminutives exhibit umlaut if possible. Stems ending in -k, -g, -ch, -ng use the extended suffix -elchen. Some diminutives are irregular: Wäin → Wéngchen.
• When the syllable immediately before -chen is stressed, the plural is of the form -ercher, otherwise -cher: Kätzchen → Kätzercher, but Äppelchen → Äppelcher. Nouns with an irregular plural often exhibit a similar irregularity in the plural diminutive: Hand → Hänn and analogously Händchen → Hännercher.

• -chin, -ken, -kin

From Old English -ċen, -cen, -ċin, from Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn, *-ukīn, equivalent to -ok +‎ -en (diminutive suffix).

-chen

1. Suffix forming diminutives of nouns

   bulchin

   clouchin

   ticchen