# French speakers - what's the equivalent of "-ie"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843 "2010-06-03T22:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/1 "2010-06-03T22:08:46Z")
That is… dog -\> doggie cat -\>pussy chien -\> ? chat -\> ? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/2 "2010-06-03T22:52:39Z")
_Petit(e) chien/chat_, as far as I know. The Spanish and Portuguese have endings that translate: ~ita in Spanish and ~ina (with the tilde) in Portuguese. On second thought, ~ette works in French. Third go around: kittie is _chaton_ and puppy is _chiot_. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/3 "2010-06-04T03:31:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > On second thought, ~ette works in French. -et/-ette, to be more precise: we’d have _garçon_/_garçonnet_ and _fille_/_fillette_, for example. There may be other diminutive suffixes, but I can’t think of them right now. For the specific cases in the OP, the French equivalent of _doggie_ might be _chien-chien_ or _ti-chien_ (diminutive of _petit chien_), and the French equivalent of _pussy_ would be _minou_ which, incidentally, shares with pussy the additional sense of female genitals. _Chiot_ and _chaton_ are just the common names for _pup_ and _kitten_, they don’t have the connotation of doggie or pussy. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/4 "2010-06-04T05:42:23Z")
Doesn’t chatte have the same alternative connotation as well? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/5 "2010-06-04T14:12:05Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > -et/-ette, to be more precise: we’d have _garçon_/_garçonnet_ and _fille_/_fillette_, for example. There may be other diminutive suffixes, but I can’t think of them right now. > > For the specific cases in the OP, the French equivalent of _doggie_ might be _chien-chien_ or _ti-chien_ (diminutive of _petit chien_), and the French equivalent of _pussy_ would be _minou_ which, incidentally, shares with pussy the additional sense of female genitals. _Chiot_ and _chaton_ are just the common names for _pup_ and _kitten_, they don’t have the connotation of doggie or pussy. In the case of those little yappy dogs, wouldn’t it be _raton?_😃 A mistake I made in my previous post: the diminuitive in Portuguese is not ~ino/ina with a tilde; it’s ~inho/inha (pronounced eenyo/eenya). In the case of some words, a “z” is added to the ending, i.e., the word for bread is _pao_; a bread roll is a _paozinho._ You’d think that after living there for two years, I’d remember this. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/6 "2010-06-04T14:43:27Z")
The suffix -_on_ gets a lot of mileage in French, _n’est ce pas_? Maybe not always as a diminuitive, though. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/7 "2010-06-04T15:33:46Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Doesn’t chatte have the same alternative connotation as well? Yes. Though “chatte” is more common, but also more crass than minou. As for the OP, I would say “toutou” for “doggie” and indeed “minou” for pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/8 "2010-06-04T16:46:28Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > As for the OP, I would say “toutou” for “doggie” For France, you’re right. Around here, though, _toutou_ always means a stuffed animal toy and never a (real) dog. And _chatte_ is almost never used as a term for the genitals, although I’m certainly aware of the meaning. Two countries separated by a common language. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/9 "2010-06-05T03:16:21Z")
Thankyou for your help! The immediate cause of the question was my older daughter informing me that “Grand Chien” was not an adequate translation of her favourite toy “Big Doggie” and that I needed to find a better one 🙂 We’ve had a few talks about the “one word doesn’t always map to one word” problem but I thought we could probably find a way round this one. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/10 "2010-06-05T05:04:46Z")
For “Big Doggie” I’d go with “Gros Pitou”. (_Pitou_ is another diminutive term for “dog” which I’d forgotten to mention.) Alternatively, “Gros Toutou” where “toutou” works both in the French sense (“doggie”) or in the Quebec sense (stuffed toy). ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-speakers-whats-the-equivalent-of-ie/541843/11 "2010-06-05T05:28:27Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > …the French equivalent of _pussy_ would be _ **minou** _ I have a friend with some French-Canadian ancestry who’s cat is named that. I expect that’s correct. (just saw the cat, yesterday, that’s why I remember)