# Ferrous vs -ferous

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 11, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604 "2020-05-11T21:31:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/1 "2020-05-11T21:31:40Z")

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A substance is “ferrous” if it contains iron.

Ferous is a suffix we use to mean “containing” or “bearing”; for example Carboniferous the era being named after the carbon bearing sediments laid at that time.

Is there any etymological relationship there or is that a coincidence?

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/2 "2020-05-11T21:50:39Z")

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> [@Babale](#):
>
> A substance is “ferrous” if it contains iron.
> 
> Ferous is a suffix we use to mean “containing” or “bearing”; for example Carboniferous the era being named after the carbon bearing sediments laid at that time.
> 
> Is there any etymological relationship there or is that a coincidence?

This appears to be a coincidence. Ferous goes back to an Indo-European root \*bʰer-. (“to carry”) while ferrous appears to go back to a Phoenician root (Semitic (non-IE) language).

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/3 "2020-05-11T22:30:54Z")

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And Ferris Bueller goes back even farther, to the inventor of the wheel.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/4 "2020-05-12T16:35:39Z")

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Conifer, aquifer, transfer, circumference, differ, etc., etc. etc. –nothing to do with iron.

Latin _ferrum_, iron.

Latin _ferre_, to carry.

Coincidence. Like bear (carry) and bear (animal) in English.

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/5 "2020-05-12T16:52:14Z")

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My (ancient) Latin-English dictionary says, under _ferrum_: “cf. Sanscr. dharti, firmness; Lat. firmus”, so apparently some people at least imagined a connection.

Don’t forget about “feral” 🙂

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/6 "2020-05-13T02:26:46Z")

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So iron-containing compounds (or geological layers) should be called “ferriferous”? 🙂

In chemistry, the terms are explicitly and specifically defined.  
“Ferrous” compounds have iron(II) cation Fe[sup]2+[/sup].

Compounds with iron(III) cation Fe[sup]3+[/sup] are “ferric” or have the prefix “ferri-”.

[Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric)

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/7 "2020-05-13T02:37:54Z")

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\*Ferre \*and _firmus_ are from the Proto-Indo-European root \*\*[dher-](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/d%CA%B0er-) \*‘to hold’, which also gave us Sanskrit _dharma_.

But _[ferrum](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ferrum#Etymology)_ is traced \< Phoenician \*barzel \*\< Aramaic \*parzela \*\< Akkadian \*parzillu \*\< Ugaritic _brdl_, from Anatolian origin. Which makes sense, because iron smelting was invented by the Hittites, who spoke an Anatolian language.

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/8 "2020-05-13T03:15:03Z")

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However, the Hittite word for iron is _hapalki_, which instead may have become Greek _chalyps_ ‘iron’, though that may have come from the Hittite word for steel, _kikluba_.

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**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferrous-vs-ferous/853604/9 "2020-05-15T13:41:14Z")

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Thank you for the detailed responses. Etymology is fascinating!

It always strikes me just how similar Phonecian and Hebrew are.