Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-uncle

Forming nouns, chiefly diminutives.

[Old French -oncle, -uncle, or from Latin -unculus, a special form of -ulus.]

This form occurs in a few words, but is not active. Examples are carbuncle (Latin carbunculus, small coal), a severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin; peduncle, the stalk bearing a flower or fruit (Latin pedunculus, from Latin pes, ped-, foot); furuncle, a technical term for a boil (Latin furunculus, literally ‘petty thief’, also a ‘knob on a vine’, regarded as stealing the sap, from fur, thief).

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