-els, suffix
in OE. -els, repr. OTeut. -islo-z, -islo(m, -isljo(m, forming instrumental ns. or verbal abstracts, chiefly from vbs. in (OTeut.) -jan. The suffix was very common in OE., as in ᵹyrdels (in Epinal Glossary ᵹyrdisl, -ils) girdle, byrᵹels (buriels) tomb, græfels quarry, r{iacu}ecels (rekels) incense, rǽdels riddle. The few words of this type that have survived into mod. English have lost their final s, owing to the original forms having been mistaken for plurals: see -le.