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

I found [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/73177/diminutives-
in-japanese) 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.](https://DOI:10.22059/jflr.2020.305146.733) 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).
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words suffixes prefixes
Augmentatives and Diminutives in the Japanese Language?
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.
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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)
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