Word origin
[1615–25; ‹ L
niveus snowy, snow-white, of, from snow, equiv. to
niv- (s. of
nix) snow +
-eus -eous]This word is first recorded in the period 1615–25. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: facet, foliation, palette, scintillation, synchronize-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)