-ette

See also: ette

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt/

Suffix

-ette

1. Used to form nouns meaning a smaller form of something.

   ‎cigar + ‎-ette → ‎cigarette

   ‎kitchen + ‎-ette → ‎kitchenette

   ‎disk + ‎-ette → ‎diskette

2. Used to form nouns meaning the female equivalent of.

   ‎major + ‎-ette → ‎majorette

   ‎bachelor + ‎-ette → ‎bachelorette

   ‎smurf + ‎-ette → ‎Smurfette

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

   ‎leather + ‎-ette → ‎leatherette

4. (Polari) Used to form nouns with a Polari context or an association with gay subculture.
   • 1967, Barry Took and 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

(feminine affix):

• -a
• -ess
• -rix
• she-

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ette

Anagrams

• teet

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt/

Suffix

-ette f (masculine -et)

1. (deprecated template usage) feminine equivalent of -et

---

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɛtːɛ]

Etymology 1

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

Suffix

-ette

1. (past-tense personal suffix) Used to form the third-person singular past tense of verbs (definite conjugations).

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

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

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

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

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

Suffix

-ette

1. (past-tense causative suffix) Used to form 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”) → festette (“he/she/it had someone paint (it/them)”)

   megért (“to understand”) → 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”) → 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”).

See also

• Category:Hungarian verb forms
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

---

Italian

Pronunciation 1

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛt.te/

Suffix

-ette

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

Synonyms

• -è

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): /ˈet.te/

Suffix

-ette

1. feminine plural of -etto

---

Middle French

Suffix

-ette

1. -et, -ette (diminutive suffix forming feminine nouns and adjectives)

Synonyms

• -et (forms masculine nouns and adjectives)

---

Old French

Suffix

-ette

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