List of irregular English adjectives
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- Main text: Adjectives of relation.
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"). Equivalent regular adjectives, where they exist, are not listed. For example, "abdominal" is not shown against "abdomen".
- abdomen (belly) – ventral, alvine
- abdominal cavity – c(o)eliac, visceral
- actor, acting – histrionic (more commonly means overly theatrical, applied not just to actors), thespian (often facetious)
- adjective – epithetic
- aesthetic pleasure – sensuous
- aging, the aged – geriatric, gerontic
- agriculture – geoponic, georgic(al)
- air – pneumatic, aerial
- alphabet – abecedarian
- amber – succinic
- animal – zoic, zoological
- ankle bone – astragalar
- ant – formic, myrmecological
- antimony – stibial
- ape (or monkey) – simian
- Aphrodite – cytherean
- apple – malic, pomaceous
- aristocracy – genteel
- arm – brachial
- armpit – axillary
- arrangement – tactic
- arrow – sagittal
- ash (cinders) – cinerary
- ass (animal) – asinine
- author – auctorial
- baby – infantile (often derogatory); see also child
- 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
- 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
- bone – osseous, osteal, osteoid
- boxing – pugilistic, fistic
- brain – cerebral, cerebric, encephalic
- branch – ramal
- branching patterns – 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
- butterfly – papilionaceous, lepidopterous (also applies to moths)
- buttock – gluteal
- car – automotive
- cat – feline
- chalk – Cretaceous
- cheese – caseous
- chest (anatomy) – thoracic, pectoral
- child – juvenile, puerile (usually derogatory); see also baby
- chin – mental
- China – Sinitic
- china – ceramic
- 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
- dance – terpsichorean
- daughter (or son) – filial
- dawn – auroral (see also twilight)
- day – diurnal
- dean – decanal
- deer – cervine
- devil – diabolic(al), satanic
- dog – canine
- dream – oneiric
- dusk – see twilight
- eagle – aquiline
- ear – aural, otic
- east – oriental
- Easter – paschal
- elbow – anconoid
- end – final, terminal
- evening – vespertine
- eye – optic, ocular, ophthalmic
- eyelid – palpebral
- father – paternal
- finch – fringilline (also applies to other small birds)
- finger (or toe) – digital
- fire – igneous (now mostly refers to rock formed by solidification of magma)
- fish – piscatorial, piscine, ichthyic
- flesh – carnal
- flood – diluvial, diluvian, clysmian
- fog – brumous
- foot (anatomy) – pedal
- forestry – arboricultural
- four – quaternary
- fox – vulpine
- France – Gallic
- frog – ranine, batrachian (also applies to toads)
- garden – horticultural
- gemstone – lapidary
- ghost – spectral
- Glasgow – Glaswegian
- glass – vitreous
- goat – caprine
- god – divine
- gold – auric
- goose – anserine
- governor – gubernatorial
- grass – gramineous
- Greece – Hellenic
- guardian – tutelary
- hair – pilar
- hand – manual
- hare – leporine, lagomorphic (also applies to rabbits and pikas)
- hearing – auditory, aural
- heart – cardiac
- heat – thermal
- heather – ericaceous
- hip (anatomy) – sciatic
- horse – equine
- ice – glacial
- Ireland – Hibernian
- iron – ferrous
- island – insular
- jaw (anatomy) – maxillary
- kidney – renal, nephritic, nephric
- mirror – specular
- king (or queen) – regal
- law – legal
- lead (metal) – plumbeous
- left (direction) – sinistral
- leg – crural
- letter (missive) – epistolary
- life – vital
- light (physics) – optic(al)
- lion – leonine
- lip (anatomy) – labial
- liver (anatomy) – hepatic
- lizard – saurian
- love (sexual) – amatory, amorous
- lung – pulmonary
- machine – mechanical
- man – masculine, virile (particularly emphasising strength and vigour)
- marble – marmoreal
- marriage – nuptial, conjugal, connubial, hymeneal
- meal – prandial
- meaning – semantic
- milk – lactic
- mind – mental
- mirror – specular
- mist – brumous
- Monaco – Monégasque
- money – pecuniary
- monkey (or ape) – simian
- moon – lunar
- morning – matinal
- moth (or butterfly) – lepidopterous
- mother – maternal
- mouse – murine
- mouth – oral
- name – nominal
- neck – cervical
- nephew – nepotal
- nerve (anatomy) – neural
- night – nocturnal
- north – boreal
- nose – nasal, rhinal
- ocean – see sea
- oil – oleic
- owl – strigine
- parish – parochial (now usually means narrow-minded)
- pearl – margaric
- penis – phallic
- (the) people – popular, demotic
- pig – porcine
- plant – botanic(al)
- pottery – ceramic
- queen (or king) – regal
- rabbit – lagomorphic (also applies to hares and pikas)
- rain – pluvial
- religion – theological
- rib (anatomy) – costal
- right (direction) – dextral
- river – fluvial
- river bank – riparian
- San Marino – Sammarinese
- sailor – nautical
- Scotland – Caledonian
- sea – maritime, marine, pelagic
- seal (animal) – otarine
- sheep – ovine
- shepherd – pastoral
- ship – nautical, marine, naval (usually applies to warships)
- shore – littoral
- shrew – soricine
- sight – visual
- sign – semiotic
- sister – sororal
- skin – dermal
- skull – cranial
- sky – celestial
- sleep – hypnoid
- slug (mollusc) – limacine
- smell (sense) – olfactory
- snake – serpentine
- snow – niveous
- son (or daughter) – filial
- sound – sonic, acoustic
- south – austral
- Spain – Hispanic
- sparrow – passerine (also applies to other perching birds)
- speech – verbal
- spider – arachnoid
- spring (season) – vernal
- squirrel – sciurine
- star – stellar, sidereal, astral
- starch – farinaceous, amyloid
- stomach – gastric (see also abdomen)
- sulphur – thionic
- summer – (a)estival
- sun – solar
- Switzerland – Helvetian, Helvetic
- symbol – semiotic
- table – mensal (especially dining table)
- tail (anatomy) – caudal
- tailor – sartorial
- taste (sense) – gustatory
- teacher – pedagogic(al) (now often derogatory)
- ten – decimal
- three – ternary
- threshold – liminal
- thunder – fulmineous
- time – temporal
- tin – stannic
- toad (or frog) – batrachian
- toe (or finger) – digital
- tongue – lingual
- tooth – dental
- touch (sense) – tactile, haptic
- town – urban
- tree – arboreal, dendroid
- truth – veracious
- twilight – crepuscular (see also dawn)
- two – dual
- uncle – avuncular
- underworld – chthonic
- wasp – vespine
- water – aqueous
- wax – cerotic (specifically, beeswax)
- weather – meteorological
- wedding – see marriage
- west – occidental
- whale – cetaceous
- wife – uxorial
- wind – aeolian (British), eolian (US)
- window – fenestral
- wine – vinic
- wing – alar
- winter – hibernal, hiemal
- wolf – lupine
- wood (area of trees) – sylvan
- woman – feminine
- word – lexical, verbal (usually refers to the spoken word)
- wrist – carpal
- year – annual
