German affixes in Polish

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-unek#Polish ［accessed: 10.07.2024］) and Słownik Języka Polskiego PWN ［The Polish Language Dictionary by PWN］ (https://sjp.pwn.pl/ ［accessed: 15.01.2026］). The affix was introduced through German borrowings, in which -ung was reinterpreted as -unek, remodelled after the diminutive -ek.

1 nominalization

  • -unek ‘action noun’, e.g. pomyśl-unek (think-nominalizer) ‘savvy, cleverness’, pocał-unek (to_kiss-nominalizer) ‘kiss’.