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Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-ose1 Also -oseness.

Having a specified quality.

[Latin ending -osus.]

Some examples are bellicose (Latin bellicosus, from bellum, war), demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight; morose (Latin morosus, peevish, from mos, mor-, manner), sullen and ill-tempered; verbose (Latin verbosus, from verbum, word), using more words than are needed.

Others have been formed in English on various stems, such as comatose (Greek kōma, kōmat-, deep sleep), in a state of deep unconsciousness for a long period. Many are specialist: nodulose, having nodules; strigose (Latin striga, swath, furrow), covered with short stiff hairs that lie closely against the body; squamulose (Latin squamula, diminutive of squama, scale), having small scales.

Corresponding nouns are formed in -oseness (moroseness, verboseness), or in -osity. See also -ous.

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