doll-size
Meaning
Of a size comparable to that of a doll; very small.
Structure
Usage
She collects doll-size furniture for her miniature house.
The artist specializes in creating doll-size replicas of famous paintings.
They lived in a charming, doll-size cottage at the edge of the woods.
Etymology
The compound adjective 'doll-size' is a modern English formation, combining two established nouns to create a descriptive term. The word 'doll' itself is a 16th-century English shortening of the female name Dorothy, which came to generically denote a child's toy figure. 'Size' entered English from Old French, tracing back to the Latin verb 'assidere', meaning 'to sit down, settle', which evolved to signify a fixed ordinance or measurement. The logic of 'doll-size' is transparently comparative, directly linking the literal dimensions of a doll's miniature form to any object described as being similarly very small.
Analysis
- doll: Origin: English (from the personal name 'Dorothy'). Functional role: The base noun, specifying the object of comparison. - size: Origin: Old French (from 'assise', meaning 'a sitting, session, regulation'). Functional role: The noun indicating dimensions or magnitude.