Morpheme
-(e)l [-el, -l]
Type
suffix
Denotation
adjective suffix denoting “of, like, related to, pertaining to”
Etymology
(1) Latin -ēlia, from -ēlis, variant of -ālis; (2) Old French -el, from Latin -ālis
Evidence
antimateriel, channel, channeling, channelling, contumelious, contumely, fidelitous, fidelity, hostel, hosteler, hostelry, hostler, infidelity, materiel, minstrel, minstreled, minstrelesque, minstreless, minstreling, minstrelry, minstrels, minstrelship, minstrelsies, minstrelsy, tartrelic
Notes
rare variant of -al
<l> need not double (but can), especially with inflectional suffixes, when surfacing as <-el> because of because of the British spelling convention for unstressed final syllables that end in [əl]/[l̩]
