Morpheme
-el
Type
suffix
Denotation
diminutive suffix
Etymology
(1) Middle English -el; Old English -el and Old French -el and (2) from -ella; Catalan -ella; both from Latin -ella, from -ellus, variants of -ulus from rebracketing of diminutives (e.g. libellus from liber + -lus, fēmella from fēmina + -la) and diminutives of diminutives (porcellus from porculus + -lus)
Evidence
bordel, chapel, chatelain, chatelaine, chatelet, chevronel, crenel, crenelation, damsel, donzel, fardel, lapel, orchel, panel, porcelain, roundel, tonelada, umbrel
See Also
-ac(u)le [-acule, -acle], -c(u)le [-cule, -cle], -cula, -culae, -culum, -culus, -culi, -cello, -celli, -ouche, -ula, -ula, -ulae, -(u)le [-ule, -le], -ulum, -ulus, -uli, -ulo, -ellus, -ellum
