Words / F / General

fossorial

adjective/fɒˈsɔːrɪəl/

C2CEFR level
95/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

Adapted to digging and to life underground.

The mole's spade-like forelimbs mark it as one of Britain's most committed fossorial mammals.

Similar: burrowing, subterranean

Origin: from Latin fossor 'digger'

Topic: animal behaviour in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: animal behaviour