-'ette' words

About

"Ette" is the French suffix that ends words, -et being masculine and -ette being feminine. It is a diminutive that can be added to nouns, adjectives, and verbs (to make nouns), as well as names...

Nouns

When added to a noun, the suffix -et refers to a smaller version of that noun.

un livret - booklet

(added to un livre - book)

un jardinet - little garden

(added to un jardin - garden)

une cigarette - cigarette

(added to un cigare - cigar)

une fillette - little girl

(added to une fille - girl)

Note: the English word "brunette" actually means une petite brune - "short female with dark hair." It's the French noun brune (female with dark hair) plus the diminutive -ette. What English speakers call a "brunette" would just be une brune in French.

Verbs

Verbs may drop their infinitive ending and take -et or -ette to make a noun related to that verb.

un fumet - aroma

(added to fumer - to smoke, cure)

un jouet - toy

(added to jouer - to play)

une amusette - amusement, diversion

(added to amuser - to amuse, have fun)

une sonnette - bell

(added to sonner - to ring)

Adjectives

-et softens adjectives, so that the new one means "kind of, sort of, somewhat" plus whatever the original adjective means. Note that the suffix is added to the feminine form of the original adjective.

gentillet / gentillette - fairly nice, kind of nice

(added to gentille, feminine form of gentil - nice)

jaunet / jaunette - yellowish, yellowy, slightly yellow

(added to jaune - yellow)

mignonnet / mignonnette - small and cute, kind of cute

(added to mignonne, feminine form of mignon - cute)