Words ending in the 'shus' sound

In a nutshell

Many adjectives end with a 'shus' sound but are spelt differently. To work out whether the word ends with '-cious', '-tious' or '-xious', you need to look at the root word.

The suffix '-cious'

If the root word ends with 'ce', the 'shus' sound is spelt '-cious'.

Examples

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The suffix '-tious' 

If the root word ends in anything other than 'ce', the 'shus' sound is spelt '-tious'.

Examples

Exceptions to the rule

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Some words spelt with an 'x' use the suffix '-xious'. 

Examples