Arboral

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to trees or resembling tree-like formations, this expression encompasses attributes of both tree species and the wildlife that live among them
2. This adjective describes anything that relates to trees or their ecological environments, while also focusing on the qualities of arboreal organisms
3. This term refers to elements associated with trees and their environments, including both tree characteristics and the life forms associated with them

Etymology: "Arboral" is formed in English from the Latin "arbor", meaning "tree", plus the adjective-forming suffix "-al", which comes from Latin "-alis". The Latin "arbor" is the source of a whole family of English words, including "arboreal", "arboretum" and "arbour", and it is the word that the familiar "arboreal" was built on. "Arboral" is the less common variant of that same adjective, and its use is much rarer. The stem "arbor" has a long pedigree in Latin, but the adjective itself is a late English formation built from that stem rather than a word inherited from antiquity. Dictionaries record it as a reformation of the standard "arboreal" pattern, so it carries the same sense: relating to trees, or living among them. Readers who meet it will find that it is interchangeable with "arboreal" in nearly every context.

Synonyms: arboreal, tree-like, wooded, forest, botanical