vernal means pertaining to or occurring in spring. It carries an Arena rating of 1809, earned across 55 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, vernal ranks #276 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #280 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #462 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,671 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
vernal is pronounced /ˈvɜːn(ə)l/.
Why “vernal” is a great word
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the season of spring. From Latin vernālis, from vērnus ("of spring"), from vēr ("spring"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ ("spring"). Unlike "autumnal," which evokes harvest and decline, the year's long exhale, or "youthful," which merely describes age without the particular quality of emergence, vernal carries the specific charge of beginning—the hard work of breaking through. It is the sharp, chlorophyll scent of crushed new grass, the cold ache in the fingers of someone planting too early, and the particular quality of sunlight that washes the air in a cool, green-gold—the quiet insistence that life, once buried, can begin again.
Etymology
From Latin vernālis (“(rare) of or pertaining to spring; vernal”), from vērnus (“of or pertaining to spring; vernal”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). Vērnus is derived from vēr (“season of spring”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”)) + -nus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Old French vernal (modern French vernal), Italian vernale (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Occitan vernal, Portuguese vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”), Spanish vernal (“pertaining to spring; vernal”).
adj
- Pertaining to or occurring in spring.e.g.“For as a vernall Larke, but lately drest / In her first Downe, abandoning her nest, / Stretchest her pinions, her small force assayes / Flutters, and fals before her flight shee raise, [...]” — 1633, Thomas Bancroft, The Glvttons Feauer, London: Printed by Iohn Norton, for William Cooke, […], →OCLC; quoted in “Bancroft, (Thomas.)—The Glvttons Feauer. […] 1633.”, in Thomas Corser, editor, Col
- Having characteristics like spring; fresh, young, youthful.
name
- A city, the county seat of Uintah County, Utah, United States.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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