Venenous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Containing venom or poison that can cause harm or death when introduced into a living body
2. Made up of or filled with toxic venom capable of injuring or killing through contact or injection
3. Possessing poisonous properties that render something dangerous or lethal to living organisms

Etymology: "Venenous" is an old spelling-variant of "venomous," and it reached English from Latin "venēnōsus," meaning "full of poison." Its roots lie in "venēnum," the Latin word for poison, potion or drug, which is also the source of "venom" through Old French. The English form arrived in Middle English, so the word has been part of the language for several centuries, though it was always the less common of the pair. The word is a doublet of "venomous": both descend from the same Latin base but took slightly different routes into English. The surface structure is clear enough, combining "venene," a form related to "venēnum," with the suffix "-ous," meaning "full of," which is the same ending found in "famous" or "dangerous." Because "venomous" won out in everyday use, "venenous" now survives mainly as a curiosity, a reminder that English once had two near-identical words for the same thing.