Aerial, Areal, and Ariel

Aerial, Areal, and Ariel Aerial, Areal, and Ariel Aerial, Areal, and Ariel By Maeve Maddox The word aerial has long been in common usage as an adjective to describe things having to do with the sky and atmosphere. Although documented in English as early as the 1670s, the word areal is fairly new in popular usage. The first time I encountered it, my misspelling detector tingled, but I soon realized that it could have nothing to do with the air because it was being used to describe such things as computer memory and flooding. Aerial has to do with air, but areal has to do with area. aerial: adj. relating to the air or atmosphere. From Latin aerius airy, from Greek aerios of the air. As a noun, an aerial is a wire, rod or other structure by which airborne radio waves are transmitted or received. Aerial View of Oil Leak Shows Size Branching of Aerial Roots in Aranda Orchids Air Power: World War I Aerial Combat areal: adj. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of, an area. Linguistics: of, pertaining, or relating to the comparative study of languages or dialects in terms of geographical distribution and contact rather than historical development. Areal Flood Watch in Force Effects of pulse duration and areal density on ultrathin foil acceleration Evidentials and Areal Typology: A Case Study from Amazonia In computer speak, areal density is defined by PC Magazine as The number of bits per square inch of storage surface. It typically refers to disk drives, where the number of bits per inch (bpi) times the number of tracks per inch (tpi) yields the areal density. In meteorology, areal flooding differs from flash flooding in that it covers a larger area and is of longer duration. Ariel Like aerial, the name Ariel is related to air. An early meaning of the noun aerial was a creature or spirit of the air. The 1800 reference in the OED tells us that some aerials have feathers, like pigeons, and others have wings of skin, like bats. Long before the 1989 Disney movie in which Ariel is the name of a mermaid, writers were using the name for supernatural creatures. The sprite in Shakespeares The Tempest is named Ariel. Milton made his Ariel into an evil angel. Alexander Popes mock epic The Rape of the Lock is narrated by a playful spirit named Ariel. For a very long list of real people, places, and fictional characters all named Ariel, see the Wikipedia article with the title Ariel. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?