ext_12775 ([identity profile] movingfinger.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] prettygoodword 2013-05-22 10:37 pm (UTC)

Viz. wastrel and cockerel. The -rel suffix looks Frenchy, though, with an OE stem glued onto it; "minstrel" hints that it's diminutive--or something not necessarily negative---rather than pejorative.

The -rel shows up in a lot of bird names, now that I think of it---cockerel, kestrel, whimbrel, dotterel.

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