Relating to the surroundings or the environment; an archaic or rare adjective form.
From 'environ' plus the suffix '-al' (meaning 'relating to' or 'of the nature of'). Like 'environmental' but older and less common, showing how English created variants of the same root word.
Before 'environmental' became standard, English writers experimented with 'environal' as an alternative adjective. You can see this pattern across English history—multiple forms competing until one wins out!
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