-ularsuffix

Representing Latin ulāris (whence also French ulaire, Spanish and Portuguese -ular, Italian -ulare, -olare), formed by the addition of -āris -ar suffix¹ to the diminutive suffix -ul-, and employed in adjectives derived from nouns ending in -ulus, -ula, -ulum, as populāris, rēgulāris, sēculāris, < populus, rēgula, sēculum. A considerable number of these are recorded from classical or post-classical Latin, as angulāris, annulāris, caniculāris, circulāris, fistulāris, etc., and many of these have at various dates been adopted in English in the forms angular, annular, etc. Many others are derived either from medieval or modern Latin formations, or have been directly formed on Latin nouns, as auricular, capsular, cellular, corpuscular, funicular, globular, jugular, etc., the use of the suffix having steadily become more frequent (especially in scientific use) since the 17th century. When the primitive noun as well as the diminutive exists in English, and is in common use, the adjective in -ular is usually associated with it; thus glandular and globular commonly correspond to gland, globe, rather than to glandule, globule. This, however, has not given rise to much independent use of the suffix, which is normally confined to the above types.