Standard Lemma guide

ferrous

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • fĕr'əs
  • /ˈfɛɹəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛɹəs
  • CMU ARPABET: F EH1 R AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or containing iron.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • ferrous metals
  • ferrous scrap

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ferric, siderous

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of compounds of iron in which it has a valence or oxidation number of +2.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of an element: iron, or in certain ways similar to iron. (Said mainly of iron group elements, in any sense of that term.)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • ferrous metals

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

of or relating to or containing iron

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ferric

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Latin ferrum (“iron”).

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Southern Altai: темирлӱ (temirlü) — of or containing iron
  • Arabic: حَدِيدِيّ (ḥadīdiyy) — of or containing iron
  • Armenian: երկաթյա (erkatʻya) — of or containing iron
  • Armenian: երկաթե (erkatʻe) — of or containing iron
  • Bashkir: тимер (timer) — of or containing iron
  • Breton: houarn — of or containing iron
  • Breton: houarnek — of or containing iron
  • Bulgarian: желе́зен (želézen) — of or containing iron
  • Catalan: ferrós — of or containing iron
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鐵製的 /铁制的 — of or containing iron
  • Danish: jern- — of or containing iron
  • Dutch: ijzeren — of or containing iron
  • Faroese: jarn- — of or containing iron
  • Finnish: rautainen — of or containing iron
  • French: ferreux — of or containing iron
  • German: eisern — of or containing iron
  • German: eisenhaltig — of or containing iron
  • Greek: σιδερένιος (siderénios) — of or containing iron
  • Ido: fera — of or containing iron
  • Interlingua: ferree — of or containing iron
  • Irish: iarnaí — of or containing iron
  • Irish: iarnda — of or containing iron
  • Irish: iarnúil — of or containing iron
  • Italian: ferreo — of or containing iron
  • Italian: ferroso — of or containing iron
  • Italian: ferrico — of or containing iron
  • Japanese: 鉄 (tetsu) — of or containing iron
  • Latin: ferreus — of or containing iron
  • Latvian: dzelzs- — of or containing iron
  • Lithuanian: geležinis — of or containing iron
  • Macedonian: железен (železen) — of or containing iron
  • Malay: ferus — of or containing iron
  • Māori: rino — of or containing iron
  • Māori: whairino — of or containing iron
  • Norwegian: jern- — of or containing iron
  • Norwegian: jernholdig — of or containing iron
  • Polish: żelazny — of or containing iron
  • Portuguese: férreo — of or containing iron
  • Portuguese: ferroso — of or containing iron
  • Russian: желе́зный (želéznyj) — of or containing iron
  • Serbo-Croatian: željezan — of or containing iron
  • Serbo-Croatian: železan — of or containing iron
  • Slovak: železný — of or containing iron
  • Spanish: férreo — of or containing iron
  • Spanish: férrico — of or containing iron
  • Spanish: ferroso — of or containing iron
  • Swedish: järn- — of or containing iron
  • Ukrainian: залі́зний (zalíznyj) — of or containing iron
  • Vilamovian: ȧjzera — of or containing iron
  • Welsh: haearnaidd — of or containing iron
  • Catalan: ferrós — chemistry
  • Czech: železnatý — chemistry
  • Irish: iarnúil — chemistry
  • Polish: żelazawy — chemistry
  • Portuguese: ferroso — chemistry
  • Spanish: ferroso — chemistry
  • Swedish: ferro- — chemistry
  • Welsh: fferrus — chemistry