Etymologically
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climatic

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Pronunciation

  • /klaɪˈmæt.ɪk/[1]

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

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