Word.ws English Dictionary

-el

/əl/

-el suffix: suffix forming nouns, originally denoting an instrument, from verbs, usually spelt -le except after n and e.

Suffix (1)

-el

  1. Suffix forming nouns, originally denoting an instrument, from verbs, usually spelt -le except after n and e.
    • runnel, shovel, dotel
  2. Diminutive suffix in words of Germanic origin.
    • hatchel, hovel, gomerel
    Synonyms:
    -cule, -ee, -et, -ette, -icle, -ie, -kin, -le, -let, -ling

Suffix (2)

-el

  1. Suffix, originally diminutive, in words of mostly Romance origin.
    • cupel, chapel, tunnel

Synonyms of -el

6 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of -el

alternative form-le
alternative form-al

Origin of -el

From Middle English -el, from Old English -el, from Proto-Germanic *-ilaz.

From Middle English -el, a merger of two suffixes: * Old English -el (diminutive suffix) * Old French -el (diminutive suffix), from Latin -ellus

Questions about -el

What does -el mean?
-el means suffix forming nouns, originally denoting an instrument, from verbs, usually spelt -le except after n and e.
What part of speech is -el?
-el is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -el?
-el is pronounced /əl/.

Words near -el in the dictionary

  1. -eezy
  2. -eh
  3. -eil
  4. -ein
  5. -eine
  6. -el
  7. -elect
  8. -elic
  9. -elle
  10. -eme
  11. -emesis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -el (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “-el.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-el. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.