coprolite

English

A coprolite

Etymology

From copro- +‎ -lite.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŏp′rə-lītˈ
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒprəˌlaɪt/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑprəˌlaɪt/

Noun

coprolite (plural coprolites)

1. A fossil consisting of petrified dung.
   • 2000 September 7, Henry Gee, “Eating people - is it bad taste?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 9 May 2014:

     This coprolite (the technical term for palaeo-poo) has yielded much to modern scrutiny. First, it is completely devoid of plant matter, including the corn and other plants that the Anasazi Pueblo people of the region lived on.

   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything:

     Almost inevitably, he became the leading authority on coprolites – fossilized faeces – and had a table made entirely out of his collection of specimens.

   • 2018 April 4, Hanneke Meijer, “On fossil poo and picky eaters: a new study sheds light on New Zealand's past ecosystem”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 4 April 2018:

     Analyses of the DNA fragments preserved in the moa and kakapo coprolites showed that moa and kakapo fed on fungi.

Derived terms

• coprolitic

Translations

fossilized excrement

• Catalan: copròlit m
• Finnish: koproliitti
• French: coprolithe (fr) m
• Galician: coprólito (gl) m
• German: Koprolith (de) m, Kotstein m, Darmstein m, fossilierte Exkremente n pl
• Italian: coprolite m
• Polish: koprolit (pl) m
• Portuguese: coprólito (pt) m
• Spanish: coprolito (es) m
• Swedish: koprolit (sv) c
• Volapük: jiedotaston

Anagrams

• elotropic