The Exact Difference Between ‘Sniff’ And ‘Sniffle’ Is More Interesting Than I’d Thought

In a recent TikTok shared by author Jason Pargin, I learned that the suffix ”-le” does way more to a word than just making it sound cute. 

In his video, the TikToker said “am I the only one who didn’t know this?” before sharing that “when you have a word that ends in ‘-le,’ like ‘nestle’ or ‘nuzzle’ or ‘handle’ or ‘grapple’ or ‘gamble,’ the ‘-le’ attached to those verbs is a suffix attached to verbs that just means to do it continuously or more than once.” 

The more I think about it, the truer it feels ― yeah, a “sniffle” IS just an ongoing series of sniffs, isn’t it?

Why does this happen?

Old English account @wylfcen explains that “originally, to ramble is to ‘roam’ on, to jostle is to joust repeatedly, and to sparkle is to emit lots of sparks.” 

But where did this come from? 

Well, apparently it derives from proto-Germanic ”-lōną”, which would become the Middle English ”-lien” and later ”-le”. It had the same repetitive or ongoing meaning back then, too.

Of course, the suffix doesn’t always mean “ongoing” (despite one TikTok commenter’s joke, being little does not mean to be continuously lit.)

But some examples might surprise you ― for instance the “ming” in “mingle” comes from an Old English word meaning “to mix,” “menġan.” 

People made some pretty great comments

“At what point does a skedad become a skedaddle,” one commenter asked under Pargin’s TikTok. 

“To burgle is just a prolonged burg” joked another (I mean, it kind of might be).

“So true! When I eat Pringles, I always think, ’egads, I’m being continuously Pringed,” another joked.

The more you know, eh?