-b

See also: Appendix:Variations of "b"

Hungarian

Etymology

From Proto-Finno-Ugric *-mp. In the Proto-Hungarian period it became -b due to regular phonetic change, then later lengthened to -bb. Cognates include Finnish -mpi.

Suffix

-b

1. (comparative suffix, somewhat archaic) -er, more (still used in compound verb-forming suffixes)

   ‎idős (“old”) + ‎-b → ‎idősb (“older, senior”)

   ‎külön (“separate”) + ‎-b → ‎különb (“superior”, split from the original)

   ‎súlyos (“serious, grave”) + ‎-b → ‎súlyosbodik (“to become graver”)

   ‎súlyos (“serious, grave”) + ‎-b → ‎súlyosbít (“to make graver, aggravate”)

   ‎öreg (“old (archaic: grand, great)”) + ‎-b → ‎öregbít (“to enhance, bolster [reputation], literally “to make greater””)

   ‎helyes (“correct, right”) + ‎-b → ‎helyesbít (“to rectify”)

   ‎kevés (“few, little [in quantity]”) + ‎-b → ‎kevésbé (“less [to less extent/degree]”), kevesbít (“to lessen”)

   ‎utol (“at the end”, obsolete) + ‎-b → ‎utóbb (“later”, originally utolb)

Usage notes

• (comparative suffix) Variants:

  -b is added to some words ending in a consonant; an archaic variant

  ‎idős (“elderly”) + ‎-b → ‎idősb (“senior”) (the modern comparative is idősebb)

  -bb is added to words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.

  ‎drága (“expensive”) + ‎-bb → ‎drágább (“more expensive”)

  ‎fekete (“black”) + ‎-bb → ‎feketébb (“blacker”)

  -abb is added to most back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎fiatal (“young”) + ‎-abb → ‎fiatalabb (“younger”)

  -obb is added to some back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎nagy (“big”) + ‎-obb → ‎nagyobb (“bigger”)

  -ebb is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant

  ‎öreg (“old”) + ‎-ebb → ‎öregebb (“older”)

Aside from the literal, relative sense, the comparative in Hungarian can also have an absolute sense, e.g. nagyobb is not necessarily “larger” but also “somewhat large”, “fairly large”, “largish”, “a little on the large side” (but not truly large). This sense is already lexicalized in the case of több, which doesn’t only mean “more” but also “several, multiple” (though not “many”).

Derived terms

• Category:Hungarian comparative adjectives

See also

• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

Lushootseed

Suffix

-b

1. Suffix involved in formation of agent-oriented intransitive verb stems

Veps

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *-pi.

Suffix

-b

1. Suffix of the third-person singular.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Finnic *-pa.

Suffix

-b

1. (no longer productive) -ing; forms a secondary present active participle of a few verbs.

Inflection

Inflection of -b (inflection type 6/kuva)
nominative sing.	-b
genitive sing.	-ban
partitive sing.	-bad
partitive plur.	-bid
	singular	plural
nominative	-b	-bad
accusative	-ban	-bad
genitive	-ban	-biden
partitive	-bad	-bid
essive-instructive	-ban	-bin
translative	-baks	-bikš
inessive	-bas	-biš
elative	-baspäi	-bišpäi
illative	-baha	-bihe
adessive	-bal	-bil
ablative	-balpäi	-bilpäi
allative	-bale	-bile
abessive	-bata	-bita
comitative	-banke	-bidenke
prolative	-badme	-bidme
approximative I	-banno	-bidenno
approximative II	-bannoks	-bidennoks
egressive	-bannopäi	-bidennopäi
terminative I	-bahasai	-bihesai
terminative II	-balesai	-bilesai
terminative III	-bassai	—
additive I	-bahapäi	-bihepäi
additive II	-balepäi	-bilepäi

Derived terms

Veps terms suffixed with -b

• -dab