climatic

Etymology

It is formed from English climate + -ic.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The noun climate is from Old French climat (“region, part of the earth”), from Latin clima, from Ancient Greek κλίμα (klíma, “region, zone; literally a slope”), from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *klei- (“to lean”).^[3] In the sense of a region's own climate the adjective at first followed German climatisch, now klimatisch.^[2] The longer climatical is recorded from 1650,^[3][2] and climatal from 1830, which the Century Dictionary called rare.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to climate or weather: 1747, in J. Wheeler's Modern Druid.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1803, Merriam-Webster to about 1828 and Dictionary.com to 1820–30.^[3][6][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1847 it also described what is characteristic of a region with a given climate or caused by its prevailing weather;^[2] in ecology it is used of plant formations that result from climate rather than soil or terrain, in contrast to edaphic.^[6][5] Since 1946 it has also been used of the temperature, humidity and airflow inside a building or vehicle.^[2]

Timeline

• 1747 – of or relating to climate or weather.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1803.^[3]
• 1847 – characteristic of a region's climate, or caused by its weather.^[2]
• 1946 – of the controlled climate inside a building or vehicle.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to climate: climatic changes in the Arctic.^[6][5][2][4]
2. (ecology) Caused by climate rather than by soil or topography; opposed to edaphic.^[6][5][2]
3. Of or relating to the temperature, humidity and air flow inside a building or vehicle.^[2]

Word family

• climatically
• bioclimatic
• paleoclimatic
• subclimatic

Related words

• climate
• clime
• climactic
• climacteric

Usage notes

Dictionary.com warns against confusing climatic with climactic, of a climax;^[5] the OED notes that climatic was itself sometimes spelled climactic by association.^[2] An obsolete climatic (1574), meaning climacteric, has a separate source, the Spanish word for climacteric.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster