This is a list of roots, suffixes, and prefixes used in medical terminology, their meanings, and their etymologies.Most of them are combining forms in New Latin and hence international scientific vocabulary.There are a few general rules about how they combine. courage + -ous → courageous 1.3. -ous meaning. Suffix List in English Noun Suffixes. Word list activities: The suffix ous. -ous definition: 1. added to nouns to form adjectives that refer to a quality or condition: 2. added to nouns to…. -ous 1. 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 cannot be directly adapted into English ( atrocious; contiguous; garrulous; obvious; stupendous ). riot + -ous → riotous 2. Middle English