-oonsuffix

Etymology: < French -on (especially in loanwords from Italian words formed with the suffix -one or from Spanish words formed with the suffix -ón) in nouns stressed on the final syllable.An element occurring in loanwords, mainly from French, from the 16th to the 18th cent. Many of these French words are themselves borrowings of Italian or Spanish augmentatives, e.g. balloon n., poltroon n. (16th cent.), cartoon n., festoon n. (17th cent.), while a few are native French derivatives, as harpoon n., platoon n. (16th cent.); on the pattern of such borrowings, a few Spanish words in -ón have also appeared with -oon in English, e.g picaroon n.¹, ratoon n. (16th cent.). But the -on element of the French etymons can be of various other origins, as in dragoon n., galloon n., shalloon n.¹, and hence -oon is not strictly a word-forming element in English, although there are a few English formations in which it occurs, notably spittoon n. (19th cent.); also the rare octoon n. French -on /ɔ̃/ seems to have been identified by English-speakers with the close rounded back vowel /uː/ in the early modern period (and as late as the early 18th cent.: compare segoon n.); but the considerable variation in spelling of the element between -oon , -on , -one , and even -oun suggests that other pronunciations also occurred; compare the surviving pronunciation of cantonment with /uː/ and early variants of words such as chaperon with -oon . French -on , Italian -one , and Spanish -ón are all < classical Latin -ōn- , -ō . English representatives of French or Romance words in -on , when not stressed on the final syllable, and modern borrowings generally, have regularly -on , as in baron n., button n., felon adj. and n.¹, chignon n., etc. Classical Latin -ōn- , -ō was used to form masculine nouns from nouns or verbs, chiefly personal names and nicknames, often contemptuous, as balatrō jester (see balatron n.), calcitrō kicker, capitō a big-headed man, nāsō a big-nosed man, post-classical Latin noctambulo noctambulo n., but also names of animals (as post-classical Latin pipio : see pigeon n.) and things (e.g. pontō pontoon n.¹). Formations in French -on are usually diminutive, as in chaton kitten (see chaton n.¹), manchon manchon n., mandillon mandilion n., molleton molleton n. (also in the compound suffix -illon in e.g. morillon morillon n.¹, ogrillon ogrillon n.); the sense is sometimes pejorative in nouns denoting women (as souillon (see scullion n.); compare also marmiton marmiton n., mignon minion n.¹) or verbal derivatives (as brouillon brouillon n.). Italian -one and Spanish -ón are characteristically augmentative, as in Italian medaglione medallion n., mantone mantoon n., millione million n., Spanish montón monton n.², doblón doubloon n.