-ium

American  

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 ).

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-ium British  

suffix

1. indicating a metallic element

   platinum

   barium

2. (in chemistry) indicating groups forming positive ions

   ammonium chloride

   hydroxonium ion

3. indicating a biological structure

   syncytium

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Etymology

Origin of -ium

< New Latin, Latin, neuter suffix

Example Sentences

"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

Satyrī′n�, the argus butterflies; Satyr′ium, a genus of small flowered orchids; Sat′yrus, the genus of orangs—simia.

From Project Gutenberg

Sil′icon, or Silic′ium, the base of silica, a non-metallic elementary substance, obtainable in three different forms, the amorphous, the graphitoid, and the crystalline.

From Project Gutenberg