Cloudlets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small, often white and fluffy formations of water vapor in the atmosphere
2. Tiny, delicate clusters in the sky that may indicate favorable weather conditions
3. Briefly visible aggregates of moisture in the air that can contribute to the appearance of larger cloud systems

Etymology: "Cloudlets" is the plural of "cloudlet," a noun formed by adding the diminutive suffix "-let" to "cloud." That suffix came into English from Old French "-elet," which in turn descends from Old French "-el" and "-et," both diminutive endings that passed from Latin "-ellus" and "-ittus" into French. English borrowed the pattern and used it freely, so that a small book became a booklet, a small stream a rivulet, and a small cloud a cloudlet. The suffix carries the sense of "small" without changing the core meaning of the base word. A cloudlet is therefore simply a little cloud, though in meteorology the term is used for the brief, shifting patches of water vapour that can gather into larger cloud formations. The modest ending does its job quietly, turning an everyday word for the sky into a precise term for something too small and short-lived to count as a proper cloud.

Synonyms: clouds, fluffs