-let
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English -let, -elet, from Old French -elet, a double diminutive from Old French -el + -et.
Suffix
[edit]-let
- A diminutive suffix; for example:
- Piece; as in a suit of armor; for example:
Usage notes
[edit]Alongside -ie / -y, -ling, and -ette, -let is one of the three most productive diminutive affixes in modern English. It is used almost exclusively with concrete nouns and (unusually for a diminutive) never with names. When used with objects, it generally denotes diminution only in size; when used with animals, it generally denotes young animals; when used with adult persons, it is generally depreciative, connoting pettiness and conveying contempt. When used to describe parts in a suit of armor and some other contexts it denotes a piece or component of the larger whole.
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- Schneider, Klaus P. Diminutives in English, p. 96 et seq. 2003.
- http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/let_n1
- http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/let_n
Anagrams
[edit]Hungarian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From -l (verb-forming suffix) + -et (noun-forming suffix), created during the Hungarian language reform, which took place in the 18th–19th centuries. The neologists popularized it based on verbs ending in -l and further derived with -at/-et. [1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Suffix
[edit]-let
- (noun-forming suffix) Added to different parts of speech to form a noun.
Usage notes
[edit]- (noun-forming suffix) Variants:
- -lat is added to back-vowel words
- -let is added to front-vowel words
- Some nouns ending in -let do not belong in this category. The suffix -et is added after a stem-final -l, for example ötlet.
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ -let in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English lemmas
- English suffixes
- English productive suffixes
- English diminutive suffixes
- Hungarian words originating from the language reform
- Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Hungarian/ɛt
- Hungarian lemmas
- Hungarian suffixes
- Hungarian noun-forming suffixes