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Difino
| • | For the purposes of this article, a non-standard adjective is an adjective that is not derived from the same root as the corresponding noun, or is based on the same root, but in a way that is non-intuitive even to a native English speaker. An example is "paternal", meaning "like a father".
In many cases, the non-standard adjective is merely an uncommon and literary alternative to a more standard and generic one. For example, for an adjective form of "charity" we could say "eleemosynary", though in most cases charitable would work just as well, and indeed, most native English speakers will not understand eleemosynary, but will readily recognize charitable. Sometimes, these non-standard adjectives may convey subtle shades of meaning or bear connotations not shared with the standard adjective, even though the overall meaning is essentially the same.
Frequently, alternative adjectives are derived from Latin or, to a lesser extent, Greek, while the more common adjectives are of Germanic origin. Indeed, a useful way of finding the stem of a non-standard adjective is to look up the Latin or Greek word for the noun. For example, the Latin for "father" is "pater", which gives us "paternal". Some nouns have related adjectives of both Latin and Greek origin. For example, "tree" has arboreal and dendroid, the former deriving from the Latin arbor and the latter from the Greek δενδρον (dendron).
In many such cases, the Latinate or Greek adjective is connotated variously as more erudite, florid, old-fashioned, or pretentious than the more common Germanic adjective. Many such Latinate words entered English via the Norman French spoken by the aristocracy in England following the Norman Conquest, or as scientific terms from the period when all scientific work was done in Latin.
Colloquial spoken English sometimes forms adjectives by adding an -ish or -y (pronounced as the "ee" in "free") ending to nouns: something that tastes of apples may be described as appley or (less co
Source: [wikipedia: list of non-standard english adjectives]
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