Bhojpuri along with some other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages uniquely uses a rare suffix wā वा (also ā आ & yā या) to mark definiteness (i.e. what is conveyed by article ‘the’ in English). Some examples are – laikā लइका (boy) > laikwā लइकवा (the boy); panditwā पंडितवा (the priest) etc. This suffix also adds the sense of pejoration (as in ḍākṭarwā डाक्टरवा) and smallness (babuā बबुआ). This suffix can be used with both animate and inanimate nouns, with some phonological conditioning as in nouns such as aurat अउरत (woman) > auratiyā अउरतिया (the woman), ādmī आदमी (man) > admiyā अदमिया (the man), kursī कुरसी (chair) > kursiyā कुरसिया (the chair) and so on.

The suffix can even be used with proper nouns to add the sense of pejoration as in the recent ugly episode where a TV journalist used the suffix ā आ (as in laluā ललुआ) with the name of senior Indian political leader Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav.

This usage with names need not be always demeaning but a way of good natured pejoration e.g. close friends calling each other riteshwā रितेशवा or अमितभवा amitabhwā etc.  

This suffix wā वा is even used in forming terms of endearments as in betwā बेटवा (the son), natiyā नतिया (grandson), bacwā बचवा (the child) etc.