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detritus

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: détritus and Detritus

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin dētrītus (“(that which is) rubbed away”), from dēterō (“rub away”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɪˈtɹaɪ.təs/, /ˈdɛ.tɹɪ.dɪs/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪtəs

Noun

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detritus (usually uncountable, plural detritus or (rare, hypercorrect) detrita)

  1. (countable, chiefly geology) Pieces of rock broken off by ice, glacier, or erosion.
  2. (biology, ecology) Organic waste material from decomposing dead plants or animals.
    • 2009, Christian Wirth, Gerd Gleixner, Martin Heimann, Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate and Value, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 159:
      Woody detritus is an important component of forested ecosystems. It can reduce erosion and affects soil development, stores nutrients and water, provides a major source of energy and nutrients, and serves as a seedbed for plants and as a major habitat for decomposers and hetereotrophs.
  3. (by extension) Any debris or fragments of disintegrated material.
    • 2001, Chip Kidd, The Cheese Monkeys:
      But of course: no clutter. No newspapers, no renegade scraps of domestic detritus, no rubber bands, paper clips, coupons, pens or pencils, notebooks, magazines. No knives. Where were the knives?
    • 2022 September 7, Tom Allett, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 39:
      The cutting head removes any chips out of the railhead and restores the required surface shape. The trains also clear up their own detritus as they travel. Neither milling chips nor grinding dust remain on the track.
  4. Rock consisting of accumulated debris from decayed rocks, like sand, that often is joined by cement.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading

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Indonesian

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Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology

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Internationalism, learned borrowing from Latin dētrītus.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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detritus (plural detritus-detritus)

  1. detritus
    1. (countable, chiefly geology) pieces of rock broken off by ice, glacier, or erosion.
    2. (biology, ecology) organic waste material from decomposing dead plants or animals.
    3. (by extension) any debris or fragments of disintegrated material.

Further reading

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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    Perfect passive participle of dēterō.

    Participle

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    dētrītus (feminine dētrīta, neuter dētrītum); first/second-declension participle

    1. rubbed away, worn away, worn out, having been rubbed away
    2. (figuratively) diminished in force, lessened, weakened, impaired, having been weakened
    3. (figuratively) worn out, trite, hackneyed, having been worn out
    Declension
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    First/second-declension adjective.

    singular plural
    masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
    nominative dētrītus dētrīta dētrītum dētrītī dētrītae dētrīta
    genitive dētrītī dētrītae dētrītī dētrītōrum dētrītārum dētrītōrum
    dative dētrītō dētrītae dētrītō dētrītīs
    accusative dētrītum dētrītam dētrītum dētrītōs dētrītās dētrīta
    ablative dētrītō dētrītā dētrītō dētrītīs
    vocative dētrīte dētrīta dētrītum dētrītī dētrītae dētrīta

    Etymology 2

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *de
    Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
    Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
    Proto-Italic *dē
    Latin dē
    Latin dē-
    Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-
    Latin terō
    Latin dēterō
    Proto-Indo-European *-tus
    Proto-Italic *-tus
    Latin -tus
    Latin dētrītus

      From dēterō + -tus (forming action nouns).

      Noun

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      dētrītus m (genitive dētrītūs); fourth declension

      1. the act of rubbing away
      Declension
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      Fourth-declension noun.

      singular plural
      nominative dētrītus dētrītūs
      genitive dētrītūs dētrītuum
      dative dētrītuī dētrītibus
      accusative dētrītum dētrītūs
      ablative dētrītū dētrītibus
      vocative dētrītus dētrītūs
      Descendants
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      References

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      • “detritus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
      • “detritus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
      • “detritus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

      Romanian

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      Etymology

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      Borrowed from French détritus, from Latin detritus.

      Noun

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      detritus n (uncountable)

      1. detritus

      Declension

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      singular only indefinite definite
      nominative-accusative detritus detritusul
      genitive-dative detritus detritusului
      vocative detritusule

      Spanish

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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        Learned borrowing from Latin dētrītus.

        Pronunciation

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        • IPA(key): /deˈtɾitus/ [d̪eˈt̪ɾi.t̪us]
        • Rhymes: -itus
        • Syllabification: de‧tri‧tus

        Noun

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        detritus m (plural detritus)

        1. detritus

        Derived terms

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        Further reading

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