girofle

Girofle (clove) is masculine. While the word does derive from Old French "girofle" and ultimately from Greek "karyon" (nut) + "phyllon" (leaf) via Medieval Latin "caryophyllum," the gender is not primarily explained by this etymology or by being an exception to "-le" endings. Rather, "girofle" is masculine because it inherited the masculine gender from Latin "caryophyllum" (which was neuter but often treated as masculine in Medieval Latin), and this gender persisted through Old French into Modern French. The masculine gender is thus a direct lexical inheritance from the Latin form, not a historical accident.