acritarch

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄκριτος (ákritos, “doubtful, indistinguishable”) +‎ -arch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈækɹɪtɑː(ɹ)k/

Noun

acritarch (plural acritarchs)

1. (paleontology, palynology) Any small, non-acid-soluble (i.e. non-carbonate, non-siliceous) organic fossil that cannot be classified.
   • 2018, Mark Carnall, “Unidentifiable fossils: palaeontological problematica”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Acritarchs represent some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth.

Translations

small, unclassifiable organic fossil

• French: acritarche (fr) m
• Irish: acratarc m
• Occitan: acritarc m
• Portuguese: acritarca m
• Russian: акрита́рха (ru) f (akritárxa)
• Spanish: acritarco m

See also

• acritarch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia