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Why is the letter l double in the inflections of the verb surveil?

It's not in those of (as)sail or veil, and AmE has canceled but mostly cancellation. It's a counterintuitive spelling similar to those of control.

No wonder some people write it as surveille

Per Decapitated Soul's answer to When is "L" doubled?:

The -l- after a digraph or a diphthong does not usually get doubled.

Examples:

  • Prevail -> prevailed not prevailled.
  • Detail -> detailed not detailled.
  • Mail -> mailed not mailled.

Why is surveilled, surveilling an exception?

herisson
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GJC
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  • @DecapitatedSoul what do you call syllable exactly? what about sailed, assailed and veiled ? – GJC Oct 09 '21 at 09:35
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    @herisson I am confused. Why is it still a duplicate even after your editing? – GJC Oct 09 '21 at 11:31
  • In any event, it makes no difference to English, since (a) the /l/ isn't doubled, (b) the rule confuses digraphs and diphthongs, (c) there is no definitive rule. All spelling is just printers' conventions, which change with printing technology and don't change with the language. – John Lawler Oct 09 '21 at 16:42
  • @herisson: You're right. I didn't realise there was a digraph there... I'll delete my comment. – Decapitated Soul Oct 10 '21 at 19:22

1 Answers1

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I'd guess it's because it is a back formation from surveillance, which is spelled with two Ls. As you noted, some people use the spelling surveille.

The noun surveillance remains much more common than any form of the verb:

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(Google Ngram Viewer)

herisson
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