-cle
1
a suffix found in French loanwords of Latin origin, originally diminutive nouns, and later in adaptations of words borrowed directly from Latin or in Neo-Latin coinages: article; conventicle; corpuscle; particle.
Origin of -cle
1
< French, Old French < Latin
-culus, -cula, -culum, variant of
-ulus
-ule with nouns of the 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions, usually with the same gender as the base noun
Words nearby -cle
Definition for -cle (2 of 2)
-cle
2
a suffix found in French loanwords of Latin origin, later in adaptations of words borrowed directly from Latin; in Latin, this suffix formed from verbs nouns that denoted a place appropriate to the action of the verb (cubicle, receptacle) or a means by which the action is performed (vehicle).
Origin of -cle
2
< French, Old French < Latin
-culum, -cula <
*-tlom,
*-tlā
British Dictionary definitions for -cle
-cle
suffix forming nouns
indicating smallness
cubicle; particle
Word Origin for -cle
via Old French from Latin
-culus. See
-cule