-ette

See also: ette

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English -ette, a borrowing from Old French -ette, from Latin -itta, the feminine form of Latin -ittus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Suffix

-ette

2. (diminutive) Used to form nouns meaning a smaller form of something.

   ‎cigar + ‎-ette → ‎cigarette

   ‎kitchen + ‎-ette → ‎kitchenette

   ‎disk + ‎-ette → ‎diskette

4. Used to form nouns meaning or implying the female equivalent of.

   ‎major + ‎-ette → ‎majorette

   ‎bachelor + ‎-ette → ‎bachelorette

   ‎smurf + ‎-ette → ‎Smurfette

6. Used to form nouns meaning an imitation or substitute of something.

   ‎leather + ‎-ette → ‎leatherette

8. (Polari) Used to form nouns with a Polari context or an association with gay subculture.
   • 1967, Barry Took, Marty Feldman, “Gaslight Son of Flicker”, in Round the Horne, spoken by Sandy (Kenneth Williams):

     You may have vada'd one of our tiny bijou masterpiecettes, heartface.

   • 2002, Gilda O'Neill, The Sins Of Their Fathers (Eastend Trilogy; 1):

     'Shame, eh, my little cherry? I was really bonar for him and all. It'll be a lonely old arthur for me tonight as usual. Ah well, let's have another little drinkette then, shall we? And perhaps, Poppett,' he sighed histrionically. 'I'll learn to keep my queeny old polari for them what appreciates it. Or for them what admints it,'

Synonyms

• (diminutive affix): mini-, micro-, nano-, -ee, -y, -icle/-cule/-ule/-ole
• (female affix): -a, -ess, -ine, -ress, she-, -trix

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “diminutive”): super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, macro-, arch-, over-, mega-, giga-, -zilla, grand, great
• (antonym(s) of “female affix”): he-

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ette

See also

• -et
• -let

 

Anagrams

• teet

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt/

Suffix

-ette f (masculine -et)

1. female equivalent of -et

Derived terms

French terms suffixed with -ette

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɛtːɛ]

Etymology 1

From -ett (past-tense suffix) +‎ -e (third-person singular suffix).

Suffix

-ette

2. (past-tense suffix) Forms the third-person singular past tense of verbs (definite conjugation).

   ‎szerkeszt (“to edit”) + ‎-ette → ‎szerkesztette (“he/she (has/had) edited it”)

   ‎vetít (“to project”) + ‎-ette → ‎vetítette (“he/she (has/had) projected it”)

   ‎vet (“to sow”) + ‎-ette → ‎vetette (“he/she (has/had) sowed/sown it”)

4. (verbal-participle suffix) Forms the verbal participle of verbs, always following the agent noun.

   jelent (“to present”) → [kalózok] jelentette [veszély] (“[the danger] presented by [pirates]”, literally “pirates-presented danger”)

Usage notes

• (past-tense and verbal-participle suffix) Variants:

  -ta is added to most back-vowel verbs

  -te is added to most front-vowel verbs

  -tta is added to back-vowel verbs ending in a vowel (hí, rí, szí; ó, ró; fú)

  -tte is added to front-vowel verbs ending in a vowel (lő, nő, sző; nyű)

  -otta is added to back-vowel verbs ending in two consonants or a long vowel + t, or to monosyllables ending in -t (fut, nyit, except lát)

  -ette is added to unrounded front-vowel verbs ending in two consonants or a long vowel + t, or to monosyllables ending in -t (vet)

  -ötte is added to rounded front-vowel verbs ending in two consonants or a long vowel + t, or to monosyllables ending in -t (köt, süt, üt)

• (noun-forming suffix) Variants:

  -ta is added to most back-vowel verbs

  -te is added to most front-vowel verbs

  -tte is added to front-vowel verbs that originally ended in a vowel (like jön, originally jő)

  -ata is added to back-vowel verbs that form the infinitive with a linking vowel (like hall)

  -ete is added to front-vowel verbs that form the infinitive with a linking vowel (like kell)

Etymology 2

From -et (causative suffix) +‎ -t (past-tense suffix) +‎ -e (third-person singular suffix).

Suffix

-ette

2. (past-tense causative suffix) Forms the third-person singular causative past tense of verbs (definite conjugation), used with -val/-vel, e.g. vele, velük etc., otherwise coinciding with the above forms.

   ‎fest (“to paint”) + ‎-ette → ‎festette (“he/she/it had someone paint (it/them)”)

   ‎megért (“to understand”) + ‎-ette → ‎megértette (“he/she/it made someone understand (it/them)”)

   Megértette velük, hogy nem tehetnek ilyet. ― She made them understand that they couldn't do such a thing.

   ‎szerkeszt (“to edit”) + ‎-ette → ‎szerkesztette (“he/she had someone edit (it/them)”)

   Velünk szerkesztette az újságját. ― He had us edit his newspaper.

Usage notes

Homonymy exists between regular and causative past tense forms of consonant + t types of front-vowel verbs, in all the six persons, both with definite and indefinite endings, except for the third-person singular indefinite form (-ettem, -ettél, –, -ettünk, -ettetek, -ettek; -ettem, -etted, -ette, -ettük, -ettétek, -ették; -ettelek). On the other hand, other types of front-vowel verbs as well as back-vowel verbs take different forms for the regular and the causative past tense (e.g. -ottam and -attam, e.g. ugrottam and ugrattam among similar back-vowel verbs, other front-vowel verb types having clearly distinct forms: kértem vs. kérettem, kerestem vs. kerestettem). However, the -val/-vel argument is compulsory with the causative sense, so it makes the distinction easier (e.g. megértettem velük a különbséget – “I made them understand the difference”).

Etymology 3

Suffix

-ette

1. (obsolete) Synonym of -ve (adverbial participle), approx. a- (as in asleep, awake, alive etc.); it was possible to add a personal suffix afterwards

   ‎émik (“to wake up, to be/keep awake”) + ‎-ette → ‎émette, imette, émetten, imetten, émett, imett, ímett (“awake”, literally “keeping awake”)

   ‎beszél (“to speak”) + ‎-ette → ‎beszélette (“while speaking”)

   ‎éhezik (“to starve”) + ‎-ette → ‎éhezette (“while starving”)

   ‎él (“to live”) + ‎-ette → ‎élette (“(while) alive”)

   ‎elmegy (“to go away, leave”) + ‎-ette → ‎elmenette (“on leaving”)

   ‎felkel (“to get up, to rise”) + ‎-ette → ‎felkelette (“while/on getting up”)

   ‎jön (“to come”) + ‎-ette → ‎jövette (“on coming”)

   ‎ül (“to sit”) + ‎-ette → ‎ülette (“while sitting”)

Usage notes

• Variants:

  -atta was added to most back-vowel verbs

  -ette was added to most front-vowel verbs

  -ta was added to certain back-vowel verbs (e.g. haragszik (haragudni) → haragudta)

  -te was added to certain front-vowel verbs (e.g. nevet → nevette, tesz → tette)

See also

• Category:Hungarian verb forms
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

Further reading

• Károly, Sándor. Az istenadta-féle szerkezetek személyragos tagjának szófaji jellegéről (“On the part of speech of the personal-suffixed elements of istenadta [‘God-given’]-like structures”). In: Nyelvtudományi Közlemények (“Linguistic Publications”), vol. 59 (1957), pp. 130–150.
• Simonyi, Zsigmond. Isten-adta (“God-given”). In: Magyar Nyelvőr (“Hungarian Language Guardian”), vol. XXXVI (1907), pp. 16–35 in the offprint (issue 5, May 15 in the original, pp. 193–205, 264–271).

Italian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛt.te/
• Rhymes: -ɛtte
• Hyphenation: -èt‧te

Suffix

-ette

1. used with a stem to form the third-person singular past historic of regular -ere verbs.

   Synonym: -é

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈet.te/
• Rhymes: -ette
• Hyphenation: -ét‧te

Suffix

-ette

1. feminine plural of -etto

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French -ete, from Latin -ittus.

Suffix

-ette

1. female equivalent of -et

Derived terms

Middle French terms suffixed with -ette

Descendants

• French: -ette

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /et.te/

Suffix

-ette

1. inflection of -ettan:
   1. first-person singular present/preterite indicative
   2. third-person singular preterite indicative
   3. singular present/preterite subjunctive

Old French

Suffix

-ette

1. (late Old French, Old Northern French) Alternative form of -ete