Standard Lemma guide

matutinal

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /məˈtjuː.tɪ.nl̩
  • Received-Pronunciation: -ˈt͡ʃuː-/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌmæt.jʊˈtaɪ.nl̩
  • Received-Pronunciation: -ˈt͡ʃʊ-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /məˈt(j)utɪnl̩/ [-ɾə-]
  • General-American: /ˈmæt͡ʃ.əˌtaɪ.nl̩/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪnəl

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of, occurring in, or relating to the morning, especially the early morning upon waking up.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: formal, literary, not-comparable

Examples

  • 1874, Henry James, "Professor Fargo" in The Galaxy 18(2) (August 1874): 233–253. [A] young lady was introduced who had come to request him to raise a ghost—a resolute young lady, with several ringlets and a huge ancestral umbrella, whose matutinal appetite for the supernatural had not been quenched by the raw autumnal storm.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: matinal, matitudinal, matutinary, matutine

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Active in the morning; waking up early.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: formal, literary, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

pertaining to or occurring in the morning

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • took his matutinal walk

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French matutinal (modern French matutinal), and from its etymon Late Latin mātūtīnālis (“(adjective) belonging to the morning; of or pertaining to matins; (noun) morning hymn or psalm; book of lauds”), from Latin mātūtīnus (“of, occurring in, or pertaining to the early morning, matutine”) (from Mātūta (“Roman goddess of the dawn or morning”) (from Proto-Indo-European *meh2- (“to mature, ripen; opportune, timely; good, great”)) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The second sense (“active in the morning; waking up early”) is possibly modelled after French matinal (“relating to the morning, matinal”).

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: صَبَاحِيّ (ṣabāḥiyy) — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Bulgarian: утринен (utrinen) — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Esperanto: matena — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • French: matutinal — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • German: morgendlich — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Irish: maidiniúil — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Irish: maidine — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Romanian: matinal — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Russian: у́тренний (útrennij) — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Spanish: matutino — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Spanish: mañanero — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning
  • Spanish: matinal — of, occurring in, or relating to the early morning