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-arium

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a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, which often denote a location or receptacle (armarium; caldarium; solarium; vivarium). It has limited productivity in English, especially in words denoting an artificial environment for plants or animals, on the model of vivarium or herbarium: aquarium; insectarium; terrarium.
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Compare -ary.

Origin of -arium

<Latin -ārium;see -ary
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

WORDS THAT USE -ARIUM

What does -arium mean?

The combining form -arium is a suffix meaning “location” or “receptacle.” It is occasionally used in everyday and technical terms.

The form -arium comes from Latin -ārium, meaning “thing connected with or employed in, place for.” Though unrelated, a form similar in meaning and use is -tory (also -torium), from Latin -tōrium, as in dormitory and auditorium. To learn more, check out our entries for both words.

Examples of -arium

One example of a word that uses the suffix -arium is terrarium, “a glass container, chiefly or wholly enclosed, for growing and displaying plants.”

The terr- part of the word is a shortened form of terra, meaning “earth” or “land.” As we have seen, the -arium part of the word means “receptacle.” Terrarium literally translates to “earth receptacle.”

What are some words that use the combining form -arium?

What are some other forms that -arium may be commonly confused with?

Not every word that ends with the exact letters -arium, such as honorarium or sudarium, is necessarily using the combining form -arium to denote “receptacle.” Learn why honorarium means “a fee or payment” at our entry for the word.

Break it down!

The combining form aqua- means “water.” With this in mind, what does aquarium literally translate to?

British Dictionary definitions for -arium

-arium

suffix forming nouns
indicating a place for or associated with somethingaquarium; planetarium; solarium

Word Origin for -arium

from Latin -ārium, neuter of -ārius -ary
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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