-ium

1. 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 ).

-ium

suffix forming nouns

1. indicating a metallic element

   platinum

   barium

2. (in chemistry) indicating groups forming positive ions

   hydroxonium ion

   ammonium chloride

3. indicating a biological structure

   syncytium

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ium¹

< New Latin, Latin, neuter suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ium¹

New Latin, from Latin, from Greek -ion, diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

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

Triv′ialness; Triv′ium, in medieval schools the name given to the first three liberal arts—viz. grammar, rhetoric, and logic.

From Project Gutenberg