a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, originally diminutive nouns ( capsule; globule; nodule ) or noun derivatives of verbs ( ligule ).
[ -ulus, -ula, -ulum dim. formative with nouns of the 1st and 2d declensions -el- (cf. -CLE 1 , -ELLE, -OLE 1 ); the deverbal suffix -ulus, etc. (cf. CINGULUM, TUMULUS) is of distinct orig. ]