-cle

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

-cle

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 ).

-cle

suffix forming nouns

indicating smallness
cubicle
particle

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Word History and Origins

Origin of -cle¹

From French, Old French, from Latin -culus, -cula, -culum, variant of -ulus -ule with nouns of the 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions, usually with the same gender as the base noun

Origin of -cle²

< French, Old French < Latin -culum, -cula < *-tlom, *-tlā

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Word History and Origins

Origin of -cle¹

via Old French from Latin -culus. See -cule

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