Carnalis

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having to do with the physical body or flesh, particularly in relation to sensory or carnal pleasures
2. Relating to the material or corporeal aspects of existence as opposed to the spiritual
3. Associated with bodily desires, instincts, or appetites, often of a sensual nature

Etymology: "Carnalis" is a Latin adjective meaning "of the flesh," formed from "caro" (genitive "carnis"), "flesh," with the suffix "-alis," which marks something as pertaining to a thing. Its root connects it to a cluster of English words: "carnal," "carnivore," "carnage," and "carnation," the last of which once referred to flesh-coloured blossoms before it became the name of the flower. English borrowed the word as "carnal," and by the late 1300s it was used in religious writing to describe human appetites as opposed to spiritual ones. The sense of bodily pleasure, especially sexual desire, grew out of that contrast. Medieval theologians set the carnal against the spiritual, so the word came to name whatever belonged to the body rather than the soul.

Synonyms: carnal, fleshly, sensual, bodily

Antonyms: spiritual, celestial, immaterial