Morpheme
-al(e) [-al, -ale]
Type
suffix
Denotation
(1) adjective suffix denoting “of, like, related to, pertaining to”; (2) noun suffix forming a noun of action or a concrete noun
Etymology
(1) Middle English -al, -el; French -al or Latin -ālis; (2) Middle English -aille; French -aille; Latin -ālia, -āle from -ālis; (3) French and Italian -ale; Latin -ālis
Evidence
acromial, animal, arrival, avenalin, basal, bestowal, betrothal, biennale, boreal, canal, capital, cereal, chorale, corneal, cranial, denial, disposal, dual, finale, functional, -ial, lexical, lineal, local, locale, manorial, morale, musicale, neural, normale, oval, palatial, principal, proposal, radiale, regale, rental, reversal, several, signal, spatial
Notes
<l> need not double (but can), especially with inflectional suffixes, when surfacing as <-al> because of because of the British spelling convention for unstressed final syllables that end in [əl]/[l̩]
See Also
-alis, -(a)r [-ar, -r], -ismal, -(e)l [-el, -l]
Homographs
al-, -al, Al, Al(i) [Ali, Al], Al(l) [All, Al], Ale, Ale, Ale, Ale, Ale
