of or containing selenium in the divalent or tetravalent state
selenious in American English
(sɪˈliniəs)
adjective
Chemistry
containing tetravalent or bivalent selenium
Also: selenous
Word origin
[1825–35; seleni(um) + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1825–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cross section, relativity, runway, spiritualism, torque-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)