autumnal

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin autumnāl(is). By surface analysis, autumn +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈtʌm.nəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑˈtʌm.nəl/, (without the cot–caught merger) /ɔˈtʌm.nəl/
• (North India) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈʈɐm.nɐl/
• (South India) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.ʈɐm.nɐl/, (father–bother merger) /ˈɑː.ʈɐm.nɐl/

Adjective

autumnal (comparative more autumnal, superlative most autumnal)

1. Of or relating to autumn.
2. Past the middle of life; in the third stage.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     "The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful over-much,--that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron.

3. Relating to colors associated with autumn.
   • 2025, Don Martin, Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire, page 211:

     A mop of autumnal hair flung itself at Verity's face.

Synonyms

• (of or relating to autumn, U.S. and Canada): fallish, fall-like

Hypernyms

• (of or relating to autumn): seasonal

Coordinate terms

• (pertaining to seasons): spring, vernal; summer (summery), aestival/estival; winter (wintry), hibernal, brumal

Derived terms

• aestivoautumnal, estivoautumnal
• autumnal equinox
• autumnal hawkbit
• autumnally
• autumnal moth
• autumnal point
• autumnal signs
• autumnal star
• unautumnal

• Russian autumnal encephalitis

• “autumnal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Translations

of or relating to autumn

• Arabic: خَرِيفِيّ m (ḵarīfiyy)

  Gulf Arabic: خريفي m (ḵarīfi)

  Moroccan Arabic: خريفي m (ḵrīfi)

• Armenian: աշնանային (hy) (ašnanayin)
• Belarusian: восеньскі (vósjenʹski), асенні (asjenni)
• Bulgarian: есенен (esenen)
• Catalan: autumnal (ca), tardorenc
• Cornish: kynnyavel
• Czech: podzimní (cs)
• Esperanto: aŭtuna
• Finnish: syksyinen (fi), syksyn (fi) (genitive of the noun)
• French: automnal (fr)

  Old French: autumnal

• Galician: outonal (gl)
• Georgian: შემოდგომის (šemodgomis), საშემოდგომო (sašemodgomo), შემოდგომური (šemodgomuri) (nonstandard)
• German: Herbst- (de), herbstlich (de)
• Greek: φθινοπωρινός (el) (fthinoporinós), φθινοπωριάτικος (el) (fthinoporiátikos)

  Ancient Greek: ὀπωρινός (opōrinós)

• Hebrew: סתווי m (stávi)
• Hungarian: őszi (hu), őszies (hu)
• Icelandic: haust-, haustlegur (is) m
• Ido: autunala (io)
• Ingrian: syksyin, syksylliin
• Irish: fómharach
• Italian: autunnale (it)
• Kalmyk: намрин (namrin)
• Latin: autumnalis
• Latvian: rudens (lv)
• Maltese: ħarifi m
• Persian: پاییزی (fa) (pâyizi)
• Polish: jesienny (pl) m
• Portuguese: outonal (pt)
• Romanian: tomnatic (ro), de toamnă
• Russian: осе́нний (ru) (osénnij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јесенски

  Latin: jesenski (sh)

• Spanish: otoñal (es), autumnal (es)
• Swedish: höstlig (sv), höst- (sv), höstlik (sv)
• Ugaritic: 𐎃𐎗𐎔𐎐𐎚 (ḫrpnt)
• Ukrainian: осі́нній (uk) (osínnij)
• Welsh: hydrefol (cy)
• Zazaki: payıze

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin autumnalis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aʊ̯tʊmˈnaːl]
• Hyphenation: au‧tum‧nal

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

autumnal (strong nominative masculine singular autumnaler, not comparable)

1. autumnal

Declension

Positive forms of autumnal (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist autumnal	sie ist autumnal	es ist autumnal	sie sind autumnal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	autumnaler	autumnale	autumnales	autumnale
	genitive	autumnalen	autumnaler	autumnalen	autumnaler
	dative	autumnalem	autumnaler	autumnalem	autumnalen
	accusative	autumnalen	autumnale	autumnales	autumnale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der autumnale	die autumnale	das autumnale	die autumnalen
	genitive	des autumnalen	der autumnalen	des autumnalen	der autumnalen
	dative	dem autumnalen	der autumnalen	dem autumnalen	den autumnalen
	accusative	den autumnalen	die autumnale	das autumnale	die autumnalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein autumnaler	eine autumnale	ein autumnales	(keine) autumnalen
	genitive	eines autumnalen	einer autumnalen	eines autumnalen	(keiner) autumnalen
	dative	einem autumnalen	einer autumnalen	einem autumnalen	(keinen) autumnalen
	accusative	einen autumnalen	eine autumnale	ein autumnales	(keine) autumnalen

Further reading

• “autumnal” in Duden online
• “autumnal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin autumnalis.

Adjective

autumnal m (feminine autumnale)

1. autumnal

Descendants

• French: automnal

References

• Etymology and history of “automnal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin autumnalis, or borrowed from French automnal.

Adjective

autumnal m or n (feminine singular autumnală, masculine plural autumnali, feminine/neuter plural autumnale)

1. autumnal

Declension

Declension of autumnal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	autumnal		autumnală	autumnali	autumnale
	definite	autumnalul		autumnala	autumnalii	autumnalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	autumnal		autumnale	autumnali	autumnale
	definite	autumnalului		autumnalei	autumnalilor	autumnalelor

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin autumnālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /autumˈnal/ [au̯.t̪ũmˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: au‧tum‧nal

Adjective

autumnal m or f (masculine and feminine plural autumnales)

1. autumnal

   Synonym: otoñal

Derived terms

• equinoccio autumnal m

Further reading

• “autumnal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025