clinal
/ˈklaɪnəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.21 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to beds or rest.
adj
Describing a torsion angle between 30° and 150°
adj
Pertaining to a cline.
Example Sentences
- "‘Strange,’ Enderby said. ‘Here we both are, in a clinal situation so to speak, a bed context I mean, the Greek word means to lean or repose I suppose, hence bed, hence clinic by the way, and this has nothing to do with my feverish imaginings.’"
- "Clinal variation in the size of the secondary sexual character may be due to the effects of the Fisher or the handicap process."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *ḱl̥néyti Proto-Hellenic *klíňňō Ancient Greek κλῑ́νω (klī́nō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek κλίνη (klínē) English -al English clinal From Ancient Greek κλίνη (klínē, “bed”) + English -al.