-etteyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[-ette 词源字典]
diminutive word-forming element, from Old French -ette (fem.), used indiscriminately in Old French with masculine form -et (see -et). As a general rule, older words borrowed from French have -et in English, while ones taken in since 17c. have -ette. In use with native words since late 19c., especially among persons who coin new product names, who tend to give it a sense of "imitation, a sort of" (for example flannelette "imitation flannel of cotton," 1876). Also in words like sermonette, which, OED remarks, "can scarcely be said to be in good use, though often met with in newspapers."[-ette etymology, -ette origin, 英语词源]
suffragette (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"female supporter of the cause of women's voting rights," 1906, from suffrage, with French fem. ending -ette, but not in the sense in which it was in vogue at the time.
suffragette. A more regrettable formation than others such as leaderette & flannelette, in that it does not even mean a sort of suffrage as they mean a sort of leader & of flannel, & therefore tends to vitiate the popular conception of the termination's meaning. The word itself may now be expected to die, having lost its importance; may its influence on word-making die with it! [Fowler, 1926]
Compare suffragist.