-ette

ette的词性：
suff.（后缀）

1. Small; diminutive:
表示小的，小型的：

kitchenette.
小厨房

2. Female:
表示女性的：

usherette.
女引座员

3. An imitation or inferior kind of cloth:
表示仿造品或衣料质地较差的：

leatherette.
人造革

ette的词源：

4. Middle English
中古英语

5. from Old French [feminine of] -et [-et]
源自 古法语 [] -et的阴性词 [前缀，表“小”]

ette的用法：

6. The adaptation of the French diminutive suffix -ette to mean “female,” as in usherette or drum majorette, was attacked on etymological grounds long before people realized that it might also involve socially questionable presuppositions. Historically, -ette is the feminine form of a French diminutive suffix that occurs in borrowings such as banquet, tablet, and clarinet (and in its feminine form, in words such as cigarette and chemisette ). In the past hundred years, -ette has become fairly productive as an English diminutive in words denoting inanimates, as in novelette, kitchenette, luncheonette, and laundrette, but its use to form nouns denoting women is a separate development, most likely derived from the Frenchuse of -ette to form feminine versions of masculine personal names, as in Paulette, Georgette, Jeanette, and Antoinette. In this sense, the suffix was first applied to an English common noun in suffragette, which served as the model for a number of words that referred to women who occupied positions once reserved for men, as in farmerette, sailorette, and chaufferette. Among these only usherette and drum majorette have survived, but the pattern is still widely used to coin the names of women's social groups and auxiliaries, as well as in formations such as bachelorette, which enjoyed a vogue not long ago as an attempt to create a feminine counterpart for bachelor. In each case, the use of what is essentially a diminutive or pet name suffix to refer to women betrays a patronizing attitude.See Usage Note at brunette
在人们意识到把法语中意为“小型的一种”的后缀-ette 改变为女性的之意， 如usherette 或 drum majorette。 这种做法还蕴含着某种具有社会意义的不确定的预知。 很久以前，这种改变是一直受到词源学派的攻击。从历史来讲，-ette 是法语中小后缀的阴性形式。 出现于英文中的一些借用语中，如banquet，tablet 和 clarinet （以及出现于它的阴性形式，在词中如cigarette 和 chemisette ）。 在过去的几百年中，在英语中以-ette 作为小后缀用于表示无生命事物的词变得相当多， 如novelette，kitchenette，luncheonette 和 laundrette， 但是它构成表示女性名词的用法却是另一种不同的发展，很象出自于法语中的，用ette 构成具有女性形式的本属于男性用的名字， 象Paulette，Georgette，Jeanette 和 Antoinette 。 在这种意义上，词语后缀首先应用于英语的普通名词suffragette 中， 它成为了以后若干指代那些占据了曾一度保留给男性职位的女性的词的典范，如famerette，sailorette 和 chaufferette。 这些词中只有usherette 和 drum majorette 保留至今， 但这种模式已广泛用于创造有关妇女社会团体及其辅助物的名字，就象bachelorette 的组成形式曾在不久前流行， 作为创造与bachelor 相对应的女性的形式的尝试。 无论如何，以实质上小后缀或宠物名字的后缀指代女性的用法显示了一种要求达到重视的态度参见 brunette