adret
/əˈdɹeɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The sun-facing side of a mountain; in the northern hemisphere, this is typically the south-facing slope.
Example Sentences
- "The distribution of barley is generally on the adret slope, the ubac seeming to be disregarded. A sunny slope is the most important natural factor in the cultivation of barley and wheat. Very rarely they are cultivated in ubac fields, but close investigation showed them to be of secondary adret nature. In this case seeds are sown a month earlier and mown ten days later than on the adret slope."
- "Viticulure in an alpine (Savoie) or sub-alpine environment (like the Jura) is a precarious activity […] Exposure, by contrast, exaggerates or modifies the quantity of the altitudinal elements in terms of ubac (shady) versus adret (sunny) positions, wet and dry positions, or windy and protected positions, respectively. The advantages of adret slopes, which are usually drier and more protected, are evident and of paramount importance. Adret aspects receive much higher levels of direct sunlight, which produces higher soil and plant temperatures."
- "The vegetation of the Bachelard Valley mainly consists of forests and alpine pastures. Above the tree limit, alpine pastures and bare rock outcrops dominate the landscape. The location of the tree limit depends on factors like slope aspect and lithology. On south-facing slopes (adrets) the tree limit can reach as high as 2400 m, but on the shadowy north-facing slopes it is usually near 2200 m."
Etymology
Borrowed from French adret or Occitan adret, adré, adrech, adreit (“sun-facing side of a mountain”), from Old Occitan adreg, adreit, from a (“to, towards”) (from Latin ad (“to, towards”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at; to”)) + dreg, dreit (“just; right”) (from Latin dīrēctus (“direct, straight”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, right oneself; just, right”)); compare French adroit.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: adret, adreg, ad, *h₂éd, dīrēctus, *h₃reǵ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈdɹeɪ/
- British English: /ˈædɹeɪ/