Word origin
[1645–55; ‹ L
vīmineus made of osiers, equiv. to
vīmin- (s. of
vīmen) osier +
-eus -eous]This word is first recorded in the period 1645–55. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: complex, cruise, herringbone, soup, sponsor-eous is an adjectival suffix with the meanings “composed of,” “resembling, having thenature of,” occurring in loanwords from Latin (igneous; ligneous; vitreous); it is also found as a semantically neutral suffix on adjectives of diverse origin(beauteous; courteous; hideous; homogeneous; plenteous; righteous)