"characterized by tubers," 1747, from Latin tuberculum (see tubercle) + -ous.
Entries linking to tuberculous
tubercle n.
1570s, from Latin tuberculum "a small swelling," diminutive of tuber "lump" (from PIE root *teue- "to swell").
-ous
word-forming element making adjectives from nouns, meaning "having, full of, having to do with, doing, inclined to," from Old French -ous, -eux, from Latin -osus (compare -ose (1)). In chemistry, "having a lower valence than forms expressed in -ic."