-ium
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a suffix found on nouns borrowed from Latin, especially derivatives of verbs (odium; tedium; colloquium; delirium), deverbal compounds with the initial element denoting the object of the verb (nasturtium), other types of compounds (equilibrium; millennium), and derivatives of personal nouns, often denoting the associated status or office (collegium; consortium; magisterium); -ium also occurs in scientific coinages on a Latin model, as in names of metallic elements (barium; titanium) and as a Latinization of Gk -ion (pericardium).
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Origin of -ium
<New Latin, Latin, neuter suffix
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How to use -ium in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for -ium
-ium
sometimes -um
suffix forming nouns
indicating a metallic elementplatinum; barium
(in chemistry) indicating groups forming positive ionsammonium chloride; hydroxonium ion
indicating a biological structuresyncytium
Word Origin for -ium
New Latin, from Latin, from Greek -ion, diminutive suffix
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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