| 释义 |
▪ I. -et, suffix1
forming diminutives from ns., represents OF. -et masc., -ete (mod.F. -ette) fem., corresp. to Pr. -et, -eta, Sp. -ito, -ita (also -ete, -eta in adopted words), It. -etto, -etta:—Com. Romanic -itto, -itta, of unknown (? non-Latin) origin. In Eng. the suffix occurs chiefly in Fr. words adopted into ME., as basnet, bullet, crotchet, fillet, gullet, hatchet, mallet, pocket, pullet, sonnet, tablet, turret, etc.; most of these are now used without any consciousness of their original diminutive sense. The distinction in form between the masc. and fem. suffixes was not often observed even in ME.; the spelling -ete however occasionally occurs for OF. -ete, as in polete pullet; in adoptions from mod.F. in 16th and 17th c. -et represented Fr. -ette as well as -et (e.g. in facet, islet); in more recent adoptions the latter usually remains as -ette. The suffix has been little used as an English formative, though words like riveret are found in 17th c. writers. Certain Fr. diminutives formed with -et on ns. ending in -el (either diminutive or adjectival) have been adopted into Eng., and have given rise to the suffix -let, which has been largely employed to form diminutives in Eng.
▪ II. -et, suffix2
forming neuter verbal and denominative ns., represents OE. -et(t (= Goth. -iti, OHG. -izzi), as in thicket.
▪ III. -et, suffix3
representing the 3rd pers. sing. pres. tense ending of Latin verbs of the second conjugation, as scilicet, tenet. |