Etymology

-cel

Today it means: Denoting a type of incel (often through a stereotype). Full definition →

English incelclip. ← Latin caeleb ← Middle English voluntarie
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Italic*n̥-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Middle Englishin-
  6. Englishin-
  7. Middle Englishvoluntarie
  8. Englishvoluntary
  9. Englishinvoluntarysyl. abbr.
  10. Latincaeleb
  11. Englishcelibatesyl. abbr.
  12. Englishincelclip.
  13. English today-cel

A clipping derived from incel. A highly-productive suffix; compare the more offensive -fag, which may have partly inspired it. First attested in c. late 2010s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.