-ium
American-
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 ).
suffix
-
indicating a metallic element
platinum
barium
-
(in chemistry) indicating groups forming positive ions
ammonium chloride
hydroxonium ion
-
indicating a biological structure
syncytium
Etymology
Origin of -ium
< New Latin, Latin, neuter suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
YouTuber Ium Daro, who started filming Angkor monkeys about three months ago, followed a mother and a baby along a dirt path with his iPhone held on a selfie stick to get in close.
From Seattle Times
Americans dutifully adopted the new term, but many British users disliked aluminum, pointing out that it disrupted the –ium pattern established by sodium, calcium, and strontium, so they added a vowel and syllable.
From Literature
"For linguistic consistency, the recommended practice is that all new elements should end in '-ium'," he adds.
From BBC
Stethid′ium, in insects, the thorax.
From Project Gutenberg
Satyrī′n�, the argus butterflies; Satyr′ium, a genus of small flowered orchids; Sat′yrus, the genus of orangs—simia.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.