Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

alluvial

/əˈluː.vi.əl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 2.87 in modern English

Syllables: al-lu-vial
IPA: /əˈluː.vi.əl/

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

4

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Pertaining to the soil deposited by a stream.

noun

A deposition of sediment over a long period of time by a river; an alluvial layer.

Countable

noun

Alluvial soil; specifically, in Australia, gold-bearing alluvial soil.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"I am a working engineer from the Mount Magdalena district of Coolgardie. I don't want to take up your time with outside details so I will only say that about two years ago I had an opportunity of acquiring a share in a very promising claim—gold, you understand, both reef and alluvial."
"Soils are a prominent feature of floodplain environments, and we include them in this section because most of the available information on ancient soils pertains to alluvial examples, aside from those in Quaternary-Recent time."

Etymology

From Latin alluvius (“alluvial”), from alluviō (“an overflowing, inundation”), from alluō (“wash against”). By surface analysis, alluvium + -ial.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: alluvius

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /əˈluː.vi.əl/
British English: /əˈluː.vi.əl/

Usage

Inflected Forms

alluvials (plural)

Derived Forms

alluvially nonalluvial

Phrases

alluvial deposit alluvial fan alluvial mining alluvial plain alluvial terrace

Frequently Paired Words

alluvium colluvial fluvial deltaic

Rhymes With

fluvial pluvial

Questions

How do you pronounce alluvial?: The recorded pronunciation is /əˈluː.vi.əl/.
What does alluvial mean?: Pertaining to the soil deposited by a stream.
Where does alluvial come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce alluvial

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “alluvial”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/əˈluː.vi.əl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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