of or containing mercury in the monovalent state; denoting a mercury(I) compound. Mercurous salts contain the divalent ion Hg22+
mercurous in American English
(mərˈkjʊrəs; ˈmɜrkjʊrəs)
adjective
of or containing mercury, esp. monovalent mercury
mercurous in American English
(mərˈkjurəs, ˈmɜːrkjərəs)
adjective
Chemistry
containing univalent mercury, Hg+1or Hg2+2
Word origin
[1860–65; mercur(y) + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1860–65. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Paleolithic, big brother, blind spot, pop-up, prep-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)