Meanings
clinal1
- not comparablePertaining to beds or rest.
‘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.’
1984, Anthony Burgess, Enderby's Dark Lady - not comparablephysicalchemistryDescribing a torsion angle between 30° and 150°
clinal2
- not comparablePertaining to a cline.
Clinal variation in the size of the secondary sexual character may be due to the effects of the Fisher or the handicap process.
1994, Anders P Moller, Sexual Selection and the Barn Swallow, Oxford, published 2000, page 299
Origin
clinal · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱley-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱl̥néyti
- Proto-Hellenic*klíňňō
- Ancient Greekκλῑ́νω (klī́nō)
- Ancient Greekκλίνη (klínē)
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishclinal
From Ancient Greek κλίνη (klínē, “bed”) + English -al.
Full word history & related roots →clinal · adjective
- Englishcline
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishclinal
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with clinal
Anagrams
Cite this entry
clinal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clinal
“clinal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clinal. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clinal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clinal.
Source: clinal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.