Where does “-ette” come from?

-ette (Middle French) comes from Old French -eté, from Latin -ittus, from Proto-Italic -tos, from Proto-Indo-European -tós — Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems.

-ette (Middle French): -et, -ette

Definitions

  1. -et, -ette

Ancestry of “-ette”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old French-etévariant of -té
2Latin-ittusdiminutive suffix, used to create nouns
3Proto-Italic-tosCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems
4Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “-ette”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →Every word from Old French -eté →Every word from Latin -ittus →