List of irregular English adjectives

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the purposes of this article, an "irregular adjective" is an adjective of relation that is not derived from the same root as the corresponding noun, or is based on the same root but in a way that is non-intuitive even to a native English speaker.

A list of nouns and their irregular adjectives follows. You can use this to look up an irregular adjective from the noun – a facility which many dictionaries do not offer. Some of the adjectives have a similar noun form, which acts as an alternative noun (for example, the adjective for "business" is given as "commercial", which has the corresponding noun "commerce").

Some nouns have both irregular and regular adjectives corresponding to them. In many such cases, the regular adjective is the one in everyday use; the irregular form either is a technical usage or is used for effect. Where, in everyday English speech or writing, the equivalent regular adjective is much more likely to be used than any of the irregular alternatives, it is given in square brackets. This does not mean that the regular adjective is a perfect synonym of all or indeed any of the irregular forms.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - W - Y

[edit] A

abdomen (belly) – ventral, alvine, [abdominal]
abdominal cavity – c(o)eliac, visceral
actor, acting – histrionic (more commonly means overly theatrical, applied not just to actors), thespian (often facetious)
adjective – epithetic, [adjectival]
aesthetic pleasure – sensuous
aging, the aged – geriatric, gerontic
agriculture – geoponic, georgic(al), [agricultural]
air – pneumatic, aerial
alphabet – abecedarian, [alphabetic]
amber – succinic
animal – zoic, zoological
ankle bone – astragalar
ant – formic, myrmecological
antimony – stibial
ape (or monkey) – simian
Aphrodite – cytherean
apple – malic, pomaceous
aristocracy – genteel, [aristocratic]
arm – brachial
armpit – axillary
arrangement – tactic
arrow – sagittal
ash (cinders) – cinerary
ass (animal) – asinine
author – auctorial

[edit] B

baby – infantile (often derogatory); see also child/children
back (anatomy) – dorsal, lumbar (lower part of back)
back of the head (also called the occiput) – occipital
badger – meline
barber – tonsorial
bat (animal) – chiropteran, vespertilian
bathroom – lavatorial, lavatory
baths, bathing – balneal
bear – ursine
bee – apian
beeswax – cerotic
beginning – initial
bell – tintinnabulary
bile – cholic
bird – avian, ornithic, volucrine
bird of prey – raptorial
birth – natal, parturient
birthday – genethliac, [birthday]
bishop – episcopal
Black Sea – euxine
bladder – cystic, vesical
blood – h(a)emal, h(a)ematic, h(a)emic, h(a)ematal, sanguineous
blood vessels – vascular
boat – see ship
bodily motion – gestic
body – corporal, corporeal, physical, somatic, carnal, [bodily]
bone – osseous, osteal, osteoid, [bony]
book – bibliographic
boxing – pugilistic, fistic
brain – cerebral, cerebric, encephalic, [brainy]
branch – ramal, ramiform
branching patterns – ramiferous, cladistic
bread – panary
breast – mammary, mammilary
breastbone – sternal
breeding season – nuptial
bridge – pontine
brother – fraternal
bud – blastous
building – edificial
bull – taurine
business – commercial
butter – butyric [buttery]
butterfly – papilionaceous, lepidopterous (also applies to moths)
buttock – gluteal

[edit] C

car – automotive
cat – feline
chalk – Cretaceous
cheese – caseous, [cheesy]
chest (anatomy) – thoracic, pectoral
child – juvenile, puerile (usually derogatory); see also baby, [childish, childlike]
chin – mental
China – Sinitic, [Chinese]
china – ceramic
church - ecclesiastical
city – urban, civic, metropolitan
clock – horological
coin (or medal) – numismatic
comb – ctenoid
cooking – culinary
copper – cupric
countryside – rural, rustic, bucolic
cow – bovine
cross – cruciate
crossword – cruciverbal
crow – corvine

[edit] D

dance – terpsichorean
daughter (or son) – filial
dawn – auroral (see also twilight)
day – diurnal, [daily]
dean – decanal
deer – cervine
devil – diabolic(al), satanic, [devilish]
dog – canine
dream – oneiric
dusk – see twilight

[edit] E

eagle – aquiline
ear – aural, otic
east – oriental, [easterly]
Easter – paschal
elbow – anconoid
end – final, terminal
evening – vespertine
eye – optic, ocular, ophthalmic
eyelid – palpebral

[edit] F

father – paternal, [fatherly]
finch – fringilline (also applies to other small birds)
finger (or toe) – digital
fire – igneous (now mostly refers to rock formed by solidification of magma), [firy]
fish – piscatorial, piscine, ichthyic, [fishy]
flesh – carnal
flood – diluvial, diluvian, clysmian
fog – brumous, [foggy]
foot (anatomy) – pedal
forestry – arboricultural
four – quaternary
fox – vulpine
France – Gallic
frog – ranine, batrachian (also applies to toads)