carnal

pronunciation

How to pronounce carnal in British English: UK [ˈkɑːnl] word uk audio image

How to pronounce carnal in American English: US [ˈkɑːrnl] word us audio image

Adjective:

of the appetites and passions of the body
of or relating to the body or flesh
of or relating to or belonging to the body

Word Origin

carnal: carnal: [15] Carnal means literally ‘of the flesh’; it comes from late Latin carnālis, a derivative of Latin carō ‘flesh, meat’. Other English words from the same source are carnivorous ‘meateating’ [17]; carnage [16], which came via French carnage and Italian carnaggio from medieval Latin carnāticum ‘slaughter of animals’; carnation [16], which originally meant ‘pink, colour of flesh’ and came via French carnation and Italian carnagione from late Latin carnātiō ‘fleshiness, fatness’; charnel [14], as in charnel house, from Old French charnel; and also carnival and carrion.=> carnage, carnation, carnival, carnivorous, carrion, charnel

carnal (adj.): c. 1400, "physical, human, mortal," from Old French carnal and directly from Medieval Latin carnalis "natural, of the same blood," from Latin carnis "of the flesh," genitive of caro "flesh, meat" (see carnage). Meaning "sensual" is from early 15c.; that of "worldly, sinful" is from mid-15c. Carnal knowledge is attested from early 15c. and was in legal use by 1680s.

adj.

2. For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal , sold under sin .

4. Imperfections of every sort are illusory and unreal , delusions of the carnal mind .