riparian

English

WOTD – 12 June 2011

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

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”, in American Scientist‎^[1], 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.

   • 2021, Lara Fowler, No April Fool’s joke for Florida: Water rights case is dismissed, in: SCOTUSblog, April 1 2021

     Relying on the fact that both states are riparian states, the court noted that both have “an equal right to make a reasonable use” of the water in the shared basin and that Florida bore the “heavy burden” of proving its case by clear and convincing evidence.

Derived terms

• hydroriparian
• mesoriparian
• nonriparian
• pseudoriparian
• riparian buffer

• riparian right
• riparianism
• riparianness
• semiriparian
• xeroriparian

Translations

of or pertaining to a riverbank

• Finnish: jokivarren (fi) (genitive of noun), jokivarsi- (fi)
• French: rivulaire (fr)
• Hungarian: ártéri
• Italian: ripario m, ripa (it) f, sponda (it) f
• Norwegian: elverelatert

• Portuguese: ribeirinho m, ribeirinha f, ripária f, ripícola f
• Spanish: ribereño (es)
• Swedish: strand-

See also

• riverain
• riverine

Noun

riparian (plural riparians)

1. (chiefly law) A person or other entity that lives or owns property along the shore of a river.