-ella

Morpheme

-ella

Type

suffix

Denotation

diminuative suffix, taxonomic suffix naming bacteria genera

Etymology

Catalan -ella; Latin -ella, from -ellus, variant of -ulus from rebracketing of diminutives (e.g. libellus from liber +‎ -lus, fēmella from fēmina +‎ -la) and diminutives of diminutives (porcellus from porculus +‎ -lus), from -lus

Evidence

Asterella, Cinderella, Columbella, doncella, donzella, novella, orchella, Passerella, rubella, salmonella, Urbanella

Homographs

-ella