-ous

English

Alternative forms

-ious, -tous, -uous

Etymology

From Middle English -ous, from Old French -ous, -os, -us, from Latin -ōsus (“full of”). Doublet of -ose and -wise in unstressed position. Many English adjectives ending in -ous were taken from preexisting French or Latin adjectives that end in one of the above suffixes (e.g. envious corresponds directly to Old French envious which in turn corresponds directly to Latin invidiōsus). In addition, -ous (or the variant form -ious) has at times been attached to English nouns to form derived adjectives that lack precedents in French or Latin, such as slumberous from slumber or blizzardous from blizzard. It has also been used in some cases as a means of adapting adjectives borrowed from Latin that originally ended simply in -us, -a, -um (for example, obvious and previous are derived from Latin obvius and praevius, not *obviōsus or *praeviōsus).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /-əs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Suffix

-ous

Used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote:
1. possession of
  ‎bulb + ‎-ous → ‎bulbous
2. presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)
  ‎courage + ‎-ous → ‎courageous
  
  ‎joy + ‎-ous → ‎joyous
  
  ‎poison + ‎-ous → ‎poisonous
  
  ‎riot + ‎-ous → ‎riotous
3. relation or pertinence to
  ‎aptonym + ‎-ous → ‎aptonymous
  
  ‎arrhenotoky + ‎-ous → ‎arrhenotokous
(chemistry) Used in chemical nomenclature to name chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a lower oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -ic. For example sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃). See Inorganic nomenclature.

Synonyms

-y
(possession of): -ate

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ous

acanthocephalous

achlorophyllous

acrostichaceous

amblystegiaceous

amphisphaeriaceous

annulatascaceous

antennulariellaceous

anthocerotaceous

anthropolatrous

aponogetonaceous

aristolochiaceous

arthrodermataceous

ascosphaeraceous

astrocytomatous

atherospermataceous

auriculariaceous

Related terms

-osity
-ose

Translations

Note: Translations of English words ending in -ous do not necessarily end in the suffixes listed below.

suffix to form adjectives

Arabic: ـِيّ (ar) (-iyy)
Aromanian: -os m or n, -osu m or n, -oasã f
Asturian: -osu
Catalan: -ós (ca) m, -osa (ca) f
Danish: -øs
Dutch: -eus (nl)
Emilian: -ōś m, -óśa f
Finnish: -inen (fi)
French: -eux (fr) m, -euse (fr) f
Friulian: -ôs
Galician: -oso (gl) m, -osa (gl) f
German: -haft (de), -ös (de)
Hindi: -आना (-ānā)
Hungarian: -s (hu)/-os (hu)/-as (hu)/-es (hu)/-ös (hu)
Ido: -oza
Italian: -oso (it) m, -osa f
Latin: -osus (la) m, -osa f, -osum n
Norwegian: -øs (no)
Occitan: -ós
Polish: -y (pl) m, -awy (pl) m, -ny (pl) m
Portuguese: -oso (pt)
Romanian: -os (ro) m or n, -oasă f
Russian: -о́зный (-óznyj), -ный (-nyj)
Sardinian: -osu, -ossu
Sicilian: -usu, -osu
Spanish: -oso (es), -udo (es)
Swedish: -ös (sv)
Ukrainian: -ий m (-yj), й (uk) (j)
Venetan: -oxo, -óxo
Welsh: -us (cy)

chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a lower oxidation number

Galician: -oso (gl) m
Hungarian: -s (hu)/-os (hu)/-as (hu)/-es (hu)/-ös (hu)
Japanese: 亜 (ja) (a-)
Russian: -истый (-istyj)
Spanish: -oso (es)
Welsh: -us (cy)

See also

Anagrams

Sou, USO, U&Os, sou, OSU

Middle English

Alternative forms

-os, -ose, -ouse, -ows, -owse, -us, -ws

Etymology

From Old French -ous, -us, -eus, from Latin -ōsus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /-ˈuːs/, /-us/

Suffix

-ous

Forms adjectives from nouns or verbs, especially if of Romance origin.

Derived terms

Descendants

English: -ous

References

“-ǒus, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Suffix

-ous

Alternative form of -us

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