a suffix occurring in words borrowed from French and other Romance languages ( bassoon; balloon; dragoon; pontoon ), and on this model occasionally used in the formation of new nouns in English ( spittoon ).
[ as an English formative (e.g., in spittoon ), extracted from words of various origins ( buffoon, lagoon, etc.) but repr. chiefly F -on in words stressed on the final syllable; cf. Sp. -on, It. -one, L -on- ]