-ette
a noun suffix occurring originally in loanwords from french, where it has been used in a variety of diminutive and hypocoristic formations (brunette; cigarette; coquette; etiquette; rosette); as an english suffix, -ette, forms diminutives (kitchenette; novelette; sermonette), distinctively feminine nouns (majorette; usherette), and names of imitation products (leatherette).
usage note
-ette
suffix
small cigarette, kitchenette
female majorette, suffragette
(esp in trade names) imitation leatherette
word origin
-ette
dim. formation, from o.fr. -ette (fem.), used indiscriminately in o.fr. with masc. form -et. as a general rule, older words borrowed from fr. have -et in eng., while ones taken in since 17c. have -ette. in use with native words since 20c., especially among persons who coin new product names, who tend to give it a sense of “imitation.” also in words like sermonette, which, oed remarks, “can scarcely be said to be in good use, though often met with in newspapers.”
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