of, relating to, or designating races with yellowish hair and a light complexion
xanthous in American English
(ˈzænθəs)
adjective
yellow or yellowish
Word origin
< Gr xanthos, yellow (see xantho-) + -ous
xanthous in American English
(ˈzænθəs)
adjective
1.
yellow
2.
yellowish
Word origin
[1820–30; ‹ Gk xanth(ós) yellow + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1820–30. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: analogue, karma, phonetic, takeoff, tetrapod-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)