-LING


Meaning of -LING in English

■ suffix

1》 forming nouns from nouns (e.g. hireling ).

2》 forming nouns from adjectives and adverbs (e.g. underling ).

3》 forming diminutive nouns: gosling.

↘with derogatory reference: princeling.

Origin

OE; sense 3 from ON.

Concise Oxford English vocab.      Сжатый оксфордский словарь английского языка.