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 ).
[ -ella, fem. of -ellus, forming diminutives corresponding to stems ending in -ul- -ULE, -r- (see CASTELLUM), -n- (see PATELLA) ]