| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
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| § 39. -ous |
| The suffix -ous, which forms adjectives, has the basic meaning “having, full of, or characterized by.” Blusterous, for example, means “full of or characterized by bluster.” The suffix -ous can be traced back to the Latin adjective suffix -osus. Some English words ending in -ous that come from Latin adjectives ending in -osus are copious, dolorous, famous, generous, and glorious. Adjectives ending in -ous often have related nouns ending in -ousness or -osity: copiousness, generosity. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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