# Vernal and Autumnal. What about Summer and Winter?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 27, 2001, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532 "2001-04-27T13:21:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kendo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Kendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendo)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/1 "2001-04-27T13:21:24Z")

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Autumnal relates to Autumn  
Vernal relates to Spring…

Summer and Winter seem to miss out - but surely they must have an “…al” equivalent?

* * *

[http://www.laughsend.com](http://www.laughsend.com) - for all your household comedy needs.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/2 "2001-04-27T13:33:27Z")

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Winter has ‘hibernal,’ but the most common ones I’ve run across are:  
[ul]  
[li]summerlike, summerly, and summery[/li][li]winterly, wintery, wintry[/li][/ul]

I most often hear “autumnal” and “vernal” in connection with solar events (the equinoxes). The adjectival forms of the other two main solar events tied to seasons (the solstices) are, of course, just “summer” and “winter.”

Boring but true. Just like Tom Brokaw.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/3 "2001-04-27T13:34:51Z")

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BTW, sorry if I kill your thread. I have the touch of death lately.

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/4 "2001-04-27T13:58:13Z")

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Winter --\> hibernal  
Summer --\> estival

But, as **KneadtoKnow** points out, they’re rarely used.

Glad to be of service.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/5 "2001-04-27T14:18:55Z")

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Nice work, **jr8**. The older I get, the fewer words there are I’ve never heard of, but that’s one of 'em.

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**Author:** ![jmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmonster)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernal-and-autumnal-what-about-summer-and-winter/63532/6 "2001-04-27T16:40:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jr8 \*  
> \*\*Winter --\> hibernal  
> Summer --\> estival
> 
> But, as **KneadtoKnow** points out, they’re rarely used.
> 
> Glad to be of service. \*\*

And as I pointed in an earlier thread, the only words related to these that we use in English are “hibernate” and “estivate”. I rather think “estivate” needs to be used more often.