Relating to or containing gold in its lower valence state, particularly in chemistry where it describes gold compounds with one positive charge.
From Latin 'aureus' (golden) + '-ous' (suffix meaning containing or resembling). The suffix '-ous' is standard in chemistry to indicate lower oxidation states, contrasting with '-ic' for higher states.
In chemistry, aurous is the opposite of auric—aurous gold has one charge while auric gold has three charges, and this seemingly small difference creates completely different colored compounds and chemical behaviors!
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