-le suffix1 (not productive). [(ǝ)l][Repr. Old English -el, -ela, -(e)le in nouns and -ol, -ul, -el in adjectives, from Germanic, with many Indo-European cognates. See also -EL1.]Forming nouns from nouns with (orig.) dim. sense, as
bramble, or denoting an appliance, as
thimble,
handle; forming nouns from verbs, denoting an agent, as
beadle, or an instrument, as
bridle,
girdle, and adjectives from verbs with the sense 'apt or liable (to do)', as
brittle,
fickle,
nimble. In some nouns, as
riddle, repr. a back-form. from
-els, taken as pl.
[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲
-le suffix2 (not productive). [(ǝ)l]Forming nouns with (orig.) dim. sense, and repr. Old French
-el from Latin
-ellum dim. suffix, as
castle,
mantle, Old French
-el from Latin
-ale neut. sing. of
-alis adjectival suffix, as
cattle, Old French
-aille from Latin
-alia neut. pl. of
-alis adjectival suffix, as
battle, and Old French
-eille from Latin
-icula dim. suffix, as
bottle. Cf.
-EL2.
[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲
-le suffix3 (not productive). [(ǝ)l][Repr. Old English -lian from Germanic.]Forming verbs with frequentative or dim. sense, as
babble,
crumple,
dazzle,
giggle,
nestle,
twinkle,
wrestle.
[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲