ferocious
fuh-ROH-shuhs · adjective
LatinEnglish
Origin
Ferocious comes from Latin ferōx, meaning wild, bold, savage, or fierce, with the English suffix -ous added to turn it into an adjective.
Journey
The word was formed by taking that Latin root wholesale and dressing it in an English ending, a straightforward borrowing rather than a shift in meaning.
Related words
The facts here don't point to any specific English cognate of ferōx, so none is claimed.
More words
From Latin