substratum

1. 1.

   a surface on which an organism grows or is attached

   “the gardener talked about the proper substrate for acid-loving plants”

   Synonymssubstrate

   Broadersurface
2. 2.

   any stratum or layer lying underneath another

   Synonymssubstrate

   Broaderstratum
3. 3.

   an indigenous language that contributes features to the language of an invading people who impose their language on the indigenous population

   “the Celtic languages of Britain are a substrate for English”

   Synonymssubstrate

   Broaderindigenous language

Other forms of substratum

plural

substrasta

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about substratum

What does substratum mean?

substratum means "a surface on which an organism grows or is attached". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in substratum?

substratum has 3 syllables: sub-stra-tum. The stress falls on "sub".

What is another word for substratum?

Close synonyms include substrate, substrate, substrate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is substratum a common word?

substratum is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.