An alternative form of geognostic; relating to knowledge of Earth's rocks and internal structure.
From geognostic plus the suffix -al, which transforms adjectives into their adjectival form with emphasis on quality or characteristic. The -al suffix comes from Latin and is common in English for creating descriptive adjectives.
This word shows how 18th-century scientists loved adding -al to their terms—geognostical sounds more formal and scientific than just geognostic, which is why older geological texts use it to sound more authoritative and scholarly.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.