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-boel

quickinfo

The productive suffix -boel, actually a suffixoid, forms nouns with common gender from other nouns. The noun to which the suffix is related is boel things, matters. An example of a derivation ending in -boel is papier paper > papierboel papers. The derivations have a collective meaning, and are often used pejoratively .

General properties
Linking
Other suffixes that form collective nouns

[+]General properties

The suffix -boel can be attached to various nouns. The table below shows some examples:

Table 1

Base form	Derivation
bist animal	bisteboel messy collection of animals
drek mud	drekboel mud
snie snow	snieboel snow mess
fodde rag	foddeboel rags
brij porridge	brijboel chaos
hok shed	hokkeboel group of (shabby) sheds
masine machine	masineboel unclear collection of machines
kompjûter computer	kompjûterboel computer mess
papier paper	papierboel papers, paper mess

For most of the derivations it is the case that there is (1) a collective element and (2) they refer to chaos/a mess. However, there are semantic inconsistencies. For instance: in bisteboel the reference is to a (chaotic) collection of animals. But in brijboel chaos the relationship with porridge is not even literal.

-Boel is a suffixoid that grammaticalized from the noun boel things, matters. It preserves the common gender of this noun. The word hok shed, for instance, is neuter, whereas the gender of hokkeboel group of sheds is common. Due to the collective element, nouns ending in the suffix -boel cannot have a plural; one cannot have *hokkeboelen.

[+]Linking

Some formations show a linking element -e. Examples are bisteboel messy collection of animals and hokkeboel group of (shabby) sheds. This linking element -e resembles the linking element -e that is found in nominal compounds.