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-ette

 - 3 dictionary results

-ette

 
Use -ette in a Sentence
a noun suffix occurring originally in loanwords from French, where it has been used in a variety of diminutive and hypocoristic formations (brunette; cigarette; coquette; etiquette; rosette); as an English suffix, -ette forms diminutives (kitchenette; novelette; sermonette), distinctively feminine nouns (majorette; usherette), and names of imitation products (leatherette).
Compare -et.

Origin:
< F, fem. of -et -et

Usage note:
English nouns in which the suffix -ette designates a feminine role or identity have been perceived by many people as implying inferiority or insignificance: bachelorette; drum majorette; farmerette; suffragette; usherette. Of these terms, only drum majorette—or sometimes just majorette—is still widely used, usually applied to one of a group of young women who perform baton twirling with a marching band. A woman or man who actually leads a band is a drum major. Baton twirler is often used instead of (drum) majorette. Farmer, suffragist, and usher are applied to both men and women, thus avoiding any trivializing effect of the -ette ending. See also -enne, -ess, -trix.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To -ette
-ette  
suff.  

  1. Small; diminutive: kitchenette.

  2. Female: usherette.

  3. An imitation or inferior kind of cloth: leatherette.


[Middle English, from Old French, feminine of -et, -et.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

-ette 
dim. formation, from O.Fr. -ette (fem.), used indiscriminately in O.Fr. with masc. form -et. As a general rule, older words borrowed from Fr. have -et in Eng., while ones taken in since 17c. have -ette. In use with native words since 20c., especially among persons who coin new product names, who tend to give it a sense of "imitation." Also in words like sermonette, which, OED remarks, "can scarcely be said to be in good use, though often met with in newspapers."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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