containing arsenic in the trivalent state, as arsenous chloride, AsCl3
2.
of or derived from arsenous acid
Also: arsenious
Word origin
[1790–1800; arsen- + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1790–1800. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: backhanded, cannibalism, gelatin, ideology, standby-ous is a suffix forming adjectives that have the general sense “possessing, full of”a given quality (covetous; glorious; nervous; wondrous); -ous and its variant -ious have often been used to Anglicize Latin adjectives with terminations that cannotbe directly adapted into English (atrocious; contiguous; garrulous; obvious; stupendous). As an adjective-forming suffix of neutral value, it regularly Anglicizes Greekand Latin adjectives derived without suffix from nouns and verbs; many such formationsare productive combining forms in English, sometimes with a corresponding nominalcombining form that has no suffix (as -fer and -ferous; -phore and -phorous; -pter and -pterous; -vore and -vorous)