riparian

WOTD – 12 June 2011

English

Etymology

From Latin rīpārius (“relating to a riverbank”) +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹʌɪˈpɛːɹɪən/, /ɹɪˈpɛːɹɪən/
  

  

  A riparian strip on a tributary to Lake Erie

Adjective

riparian (comparative more riparian, superlative most riparian)

1. Of or relating to the bank of a river or stream.
   • 2011, Jim Perrin, The Guardian, 28 May 2011:

     A kingfisher, an airborne jewel, whirrs past, stickleback in its beak, and disappears into a thicket of riparian willow.

   • 2013 January 1, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 59: 

     European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.

Derived terms

• hydroriparian
• mesoriparian
• riparianism
• riparian right
• xeroriparian

Translations

of or pertaining to a riverbank

• Finnish: jokivarren (genitive of noun), jokivarsi-
• Norwegian: elverelatert

• Swedish: strand-

See also

• riverain