-ellum
Forming nouns.
[Latin diminutive suffix -ellum.]
This occurs mainly in technical terms for parts of animals or plants: the cerebellum (Latin, diminutive of cerebrum, brain) is a part of the brain at the back of the skull in vertebrates; a flagellum (Latin, diminutive of flagrum, scourge) is a microscopic whip-like appendage which enables many single-celled animals to swim; a cribellum (Latin, diminutive of cribrum, sieve) is an additional spinning organ in some spiders; a labellum (Latin, diminutive of labrum, lip) is one of a pair of lobes at the tip of the proboscis in some insects, or a central petal at the base of an orchid flower. These all have plurals in -a (see -a2): labella, flagella.
However, antebellum, occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the US Civil War, and the equivalent post-bellum, both derive from Latin bellum, war, which is not a diminutive; vellum, fine parchment made originally from the skin of a calf, comes from Old French velin.
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