arboreal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin arboreus (“of or pertaining to trees”) with the English suffix -al added,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the Latin adjective being from arbor (“tree”).^[2][3][7][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records a less common form arborean, with the suffix -an.^[9] Hoad lists arboreous and arborescent from the same period, and arboriculture from the 19th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pertaining to trees or of the nature of trees: before 1667, in Cowley's Of Plants.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the first use to about 1667,^[9] Etymonline to the 1660s^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1660–70.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word first described what belongs to or resembles trees.^[2][3] In the 19th century it was also used of animals that live in or frequent trees,^[2][4][3] and in zoology the derivative arboreality names the state of living in trees.^[4] Both senses are current.^[11][9]

Timeline

• before 1667 – pertaining to trees, of the nature of trees.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1660s.^[3]
• before 1843 – of animals, haunting or living in trees, in Southey's The Doctor.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1834.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or resembling a tree or trees: arboreal shapes in the frost on the window.^[11][9][2]
2. Living in or among trees, or often found in them: arboreal frogs.^[11][9][2]

Word family

• arboreally
• semiarboreal
• subarboreal

Related words

• arbor
• arborescent
• arboreous
• arborous
• arboretum
• arboriculture

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins