-colous

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a combining form meaning “inhabiting” the thing or place specified by the initial element, used in the formation of compound words: nidicolous.

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Origin of -colous

<Latin -col(a), combining form representing colere to inhabit (cf. colonus) + -ous

Words nearby -colous

colour supplement, colour temperature, colourwash, colourway, coloury, -colous, colpitis, colpo-, colpoda, colpoplasty, colportage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

British Dictionary definitions for -colous

-colous

adj combining form

inhabiting or living onarenicolous

Word Origin for -colous

from Latin -cola inhabitant + -ous; related to colere to inhabit

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