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-een

Forming diminutive nouns.

Irish diminutive suffix ‑ín.

Most words in ‑een are characteristically Irish, though many are now more widely known: a colleen (Irish cailin, diminutive of caile, countrywoman) is a girl or young woman; poteen (Irish (fuisce) poitín, little pot (of whiskey), diminutive of pota, pot) is alcohol made illicitly, typically from potatoes; a shebeen (Anglo-Irish síbín, from séibe, mugful) is an unlicensed establishment or private house selling alcoholic liquor; smithereens (Irish smidirín, a small fragment), small pieces.

A few words come instead from the French ending ‑in or ‑ine: canteen, tureen; some names for materials were formed in English in imitation of bombazeen, an older spelling of bombazine, for example velveteen and sateen. The modern equivalent of this ending is ‑ine (see ‑ine2).

See also ‑teen.

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