How do you pronounce vernal?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈvɝnəl/.

vernal

/ˈvɝnəl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.56 in modern English

Syllables: vern-al
IPA: /ˈvɝnəl/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Pertaining to or occurring in spring.

Formal; Literary

adj

Having characteristics like spring; fresh, young, youthful.

Formal; Literary

name

A city, the county seat of Uintah County, Utah, United States.

Example Sentences

"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, [...]"
"To my requeſt this anſwer ſhe bequeath'd, / Whiles from her lips the vernall Roſes breath'd; [...]"
"[...] I have in England for ſome years paſt, kept by me an exact table, or Ephemeris both of the Vernall, and Summer Eteſians; but found the VVinds no leſſe Variable in thoſe Months, then at other Seaſons."
"Look round: the vernal fields smile with new flowers, / The budding orchard perfumes the soft breeze, / And the green corn waves to the passing gale."
"Their [aphids'] punctures of the leaves of peach and nectarine trees in the vernal months; and of cherry, plum, and currant-trees in the summer, produce a swelling and elevation of the cuticle of the leaf on its upper side, and consequent curling of it with its upper surface outwards, which terminates in a destruction of it, [...]"
"On we went in this way, mile after mile, over hills and through valleys inundated with a frothing, vernal vegetation and filled with the odour of newly watered ferns in a glasshouse."

Etymology

PIE word *wósr̥ 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”).

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: vernālis, *wósr̥

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈvɝnəl/
British English: /ˈvɜːn(ə)l/

Usage

Inflected Forms

more vernal (comparative) most vernal (superlative) vernall (alternative)

Derived Forms

prevernal vernalgrass vernalin vernality vernalization vernalize vernally vernation vernine

Phrases

sweet vernal grass vernal-bearded vernal conjunctivitis vernal crocus vernal cyclamen vernal equinoctial vernal equinox vernal gentian

Frequently Paired Words

primavera ver vere vere-time summer: aestival estival summery · autumn fall: autumnal · winter: brumal

Synonyms

springlike, spring-like springly youthful young

Rhymes With

journal internal external colonel eternal maternal kernel paternal nocturnal fraternal infernal diurnal