-elle: Meaning and Definition of

-elle

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a noun suffix occurring in loanwords from French, where it originally formed diminutives, now often with a derivative sense in which the diminutive force is lost (bagatelle; prunelle; rondelle); also in Anglicized forms of Latin words ending in -ella (organelle).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.