ruderal

R1U1D2E1R1A1L1

noun

Any plant growing in rubbish or very poor soil.

OriginNew Latin rūderālis →
Scrabble 8
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounruderal (plural ruderals)

plural ruderals

  1. biologyAny plant growing in rubbish or very poor soil.
  2. biologyA plant tending to volunteer in disturbed soil.
adjectiveruderal (comparative more ruderal, superlative most ruderal)

comparative more ruderal · superlative most ruderal

  1. biologyThat grows in rubbish or poor soil.

    Rafinesque perfected his variant of this honorable philosophy while botanizing in the literal backyards of my childhood, examining ruderal plants I've known all my life, and so I have appropriated it from him, with minor tweaks.

    2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead

Origin

  1. New Latinrūderālis
  2. Englishruderal

Borrowed from New Latin rūderālis, from Latin rūdus (“rubble”).

More words from New Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan ruderal
  • ruderalgrows in poor soil
Dutch ruderaal
  • ruderaalgrows in poor soil
French rudéral
  • rudéralgrows in poor soil
Italian ruderale
  • ruderalegrows in poor soil
Portuguese ruderal
  • ruderalgrows in poor soil
Spanish ruderal
  • ruderalgrows in poor soil
Cite this entry
APA

ruderal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruderal

MLA

“ruderal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruderal. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruderal,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruderal.

Source: ruderal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.