I just thought about Garak saying ‘dear’ so much and was wondering what Cardassian term of endearment he is actually using that the universal translator is spitting out as ‘dear’. I’m really curious.
In the version of Kardasi that @cardassianlanguage uses, the suffix -lin translates as “valued”. More specifically, s'h'iosr'ha is doctor, s'h'iosr'halin is dear doctor.
In any other version of Kardasi or Varagasi, your guess is as good as mine!