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fossil

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fossil, fóssil, and fòssil

English

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A fossil.
 fossil on Wikipedia

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Latin foss-
Proto-Indo-European *-elis
Proto-Italic *-elis
Latin -ilis
Latin fossilislbor.
French fossileder.
English fossil

    From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“to dig up”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fossil (plural fossils)

    1. The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
      • 1870, T. H. Huxley, “On Hypsilophodon Foxii, a new Dinosaurian from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight”, in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 26, page 9:
        With the permission of the Keeper of the fossil collection, therefore, the specimen was subjected to a further careful removal of the matrix in the requisite directions.
      • 1987, Cora Oostendorp, The Bryophytes of the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic (Bryophytorum Bibliotheca; 34), Berlin, Stuttgart: J. Cramer, page 9:
        Within the Hepaticae two types of fossils can be distinguished: those with sufficient characters to assign them to an order and those with more obscure characters.
    2. (paleontology) Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.
      • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist‎[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 13 February 2012, page 162:
        He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.
      • 2016 November 9, Mark Carnall, “Is palaeontology a waste of public money?”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
        You know what, we’ve got a limited number of heartbeats in this world so if you’re only truly happy researching fossils and can make it work for you, you go for it.
    3. (linguistics) A fossil word.
    4. (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
    5. (figuratively, derogatory) An extremely old or outdated person.
      • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
        I do not want to convey any disrespectful notion or slight when I call those good and learned men fossils, but my experience is that people are apt to fossilise even at a University if they follow the same paths too persistently.
      • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
        All at once there was a tapping at the window pane. Atherton was staring at us from without. He shouted through the glass, ‘Come out of that, you fossils! — I’ve news for you!’
      • 1923, Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links:
        “[…] What have you done with your old fossil?” “M. Poirot has gone to Paris,” I replied coldly. “And I can tell you, M. Giraud, that he is anything but an old fossil. He has solved many cases that have completely baffled the English police.”
    6. (Internet, colloquial) A piece of media heavily promoted by a social media algorithm in spite of the media's old age.

    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

    See also

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    Danish

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    Etymology 1

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    From Latin fossilis, from fossa (“ditch”).

    Adjective

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    fossil

    1. fossil (noun modifier), fossilised (UK), fossilized
    Inflection
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    Inflection of fossil
    positive comparative superlative
    indefinite common singular fossil — —2
    indefinite neuter singular fossilt — —2
    plural fossile — —2
    definite attributive1 fossile — —

    1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
    the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
    2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

    Etymology 2

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    From New Latin fossile.

    Noun

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    fossil n (singular definite fossilet, plural indefinite fossiler)

    1. fossil
    Inflection
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    Declension of fossil
    neuter
    gender     		singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative fossil fossilet fossiler fossilerne
    genitive fossils fossilets fossilers fossilernes

    German

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    Etymology

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    From Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“to dig up”).

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    fossil (strong nominative masculine singular fossiler, not comparable)

    1. fossil

    Declension

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    Positive forms of fossil (uncomparable)
    number & gender singular plural
    masculine feminine neuter
    predicative er ist fossil sie ist fossil es ist fossil sie sind fossil
    strong declension
    (without article)     		nominative fossiler fossile fossiles fossile
    genitive fossilen fossiler fossilen fossiler
    dative fossilem fossiler fossilem fossilen
    accusative fossilen fossile fossiles fossile
    weak declension
    (with definite article)     		nominative der fossile die fossile das fossile die fossilen
    genitive des fossilen der fossilen des fossilen der fossilen
    dative dem fossilen der fossilen dem fossilen den fossilen
    accusative den fossilen die fossile das fossile die fossilen
    mixed declension
    (with indefinite article)     		nominative ein fossiler eine fossile ein fossiles (keine) fossilen
    genitive eines fossilen einer fossilen eines fossilen (keiner) fossilen
    dative einem fossilen einer fossilen einem fossilen (keinen) fossilen
    accusative einen fossilen eine fossile ein fossiles (keine) fossilen

    Further reading

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    • “fossil” in Duden online
    • “fossil”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[3] (in German)

    Norwegian Bokmål

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    Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia no

    Etymology 1

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    From Latin fossilis.

    Adjective

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    fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)

    1. fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier: e.g. fossil fuels)

    Etymology 2

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    From New Latin fossile.

    Noun

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    fossil m or n (definite singular fossilen or fossilet, indefinite plural fossiler or fossil, definite plural fossilene or fossila)

    1. a fossil (fossilised remains of an animal or plant)
    Derived terms
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    References

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    Norwegian Nynorsk

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    Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nn

    Etymology 1

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    From Latin fossilis.

    Adjective

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    fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)

    1. fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier)

    Etymology 2

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    From New Latin.

    Noun

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    fossil n (definite singular fossilet, indefinite plural fossil, definite plural fossila)

    1. a fossil (as above)

    References

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    Swedish

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    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    fossil

    1. fossil

    Declension

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    Inflection of fossil
    Indefinite positive comparative superlative1
    common singular fossil — —
    neuter singular fossilt — —
    plural fossila — —
    masculine plural2 fossile — —
    Definite positive comparative superlative
    masculine singular3 fossile — —
    all fossila — —

    1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
    2 Dated or archaic.
    3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

    Noun

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    fossil n

    1. a fossil

    Declension

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    Declension of fossil
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite fossil fossils
    definite fossilet fossilets
    plural indefinite fossil fossils
    definite fossilen fossilens
    Declension of fossil
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite fossil fossils
    definite fossilet fossilets
    plural indefinite fossiler fossilers
    definite fossilerna fossilernas
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    References

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    Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=fossil&oldid=93429737"