-cle

-cle¹

a suffix found in French loanwords of Latin origin, originally diminutive nouns, and later in adaptations of words borrowed directly from Latin or in Neo-Latin coinages: article; conventicle; corpuscle; particle.

[ < F, OF < L -culus, -cula, -culum, var. of -ulus -ULE with nouns of the 3d, 4th and 5th declensions, usually with the same gender as the base noun]

-cle²

a suffix found in French loanwords of Latin origin, later in adaptations of words borrowed directly from Latin; in Latin, this suffix formed from verbs nouns that denoted a place appropriate to the action of the verb (cubicle, receptacle) or a means by which the action is performed (vehicle).

[ < F, OF < L -culum, -cula < *-tlom, *-tla]

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