-le
/əl/
-le suffix: a frequentative suffix of verbs, indicating repetition or continuousness.
Suffix (1)
-le
- A frequentative suffix of verbs, indicating repetition or continuousness
- assle, buzzle, crackle, cuddle, dazzle, draggle, drawl, dribble, drizzle, fumble, gamble, grapple, handle, jostle, kissle, maddle, mingle, nestle, nuzzle, prattle, quibble, ramble, rattle, ripple, scribble, sile, sizzle, sniffle, snuggle, startle, stopple, suckle, tattle, tickle, topple, waggle...
Suffix (2)
-le
- Forming adjectives from verbs with the meaning of "prone to", "tending to", "apt to", "capable of"; compare -ative
- battle, breakle, brittle, fickle, forgettle, little, newfangle, nimble, wankle
Suffix (3)
-le
- Forming diminutives from other nouns.
- dump + -le → dimple
- dung + -le → dingle
- Forming agent nouns from verbs
- beadle, beetle, bridle, bundle, cripple, fettle, girdle, ladle, losel, runnel, shovel, spindle, spittle, steeple, stile, stopple, thimble, tool, towel, trundle
Synonyms of -le
Forms of -le
| alternative form | -el |
|---|
Origin of -le
From Middle English -len, -elen, from Old English -lian (frequentative verbal suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-lōn, from Proto-Germanic *-lōną (frequentative verbal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian -elje, Dutch -elen, German -eln, Danish -le, Norwegian Bokmål -le, Norwegian Nynorsk -la, Swedish -la, Icelandic -la. Compare -er.
From Middle English -el, -le (adjectival), from Old English -el, -ol, from Proto-Germanic *-ulaz and *-ilaz (adjective suffixes). Cognate with West Frisian -el, Dutch -el, Low German -el, German -el, Icelandic -ill.
From Middle English -el (agent suffix), from a combination of two suffixes: * Old English -el, -il (diminutive suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). * Old English -el, -ol, -ul (agent suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (agent suffix). Cognate with West Frisian -el, Dutch -el, Low German -el, German -el.
Words formed from -le
Questions about -le
- What does -le mean?
- -le means a frequentative suffix of verbs, indicating repetition or continuousness.
- What part of speech is -le?
- -le is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -le?
- -le is pronounced /əl/.
Words near -le in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -le (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “-le.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-le. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.