| -ous suff. 1. Possessing; full of; characterized by: joyous. 2. Having a valence lower than that of a specified element in compounds or ions named with adjectives ending in -ic: ferrous. [Middle English, from Old French -ous, -eus, -eux, from Latin -  sus and -us, adj. suff.] |
-ous
suffix forming adjectives
1. having, full of, or characterized by dangerous spacious languorous
2. (Chemistry) indicating that an element is chemically combined in the lower of two possible valency states ferrous stannous Compare -ic [2]
[from Old French, from Latin -ōsus or -us, Greek -os, adj suffixes]
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