fossil
English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Fossil-svalbard-norway.gif/220px-Fossil-svalbard-norway.gif)
Etymology
[edit]From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I dig up”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɒsl̩/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɑsl̩/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒsəl
- Hyphenation: fos‧sil
Noun
[edit]fossil (plural fossils)
- 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.
- (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.
- (linguistics) A fossil word.
- (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
- (figuratively) An extremely old or outdated person.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!’
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
[edit]Danish
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Latin fossilis, from fossa (“ditch”).
Adjective
[edit]fossil
- fossil (noun modifier), fossilised (UK), fossilized
Inflection
[edit]Inflection of fossil | |||
---|---|---|---|
Positive | Comparative | Superlative | |
Indefinte 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
[edit]Noun
[edit]fossil n (singular definite fossilet, plural indefinite fossiler)
Inflection
[edit]neuter gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | fossil | fossilet | fossiler | fossilerne |
genitive | fossils | fossilets | fossilers | fossilernes |
German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I dig up”).
Adjective
[edit]fossil (strong nominative masculine singular fossiler, not comparable)
Declension
[edit]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
[edit]Norwegian Bokmål
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Adjective
[edit]fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)
- fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier: e.g. fossil fuels)
Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]fossil m or n (definite singular fossilen or fossilet, indefinite plural fossiler or fossil, definite plural fossilene or fossila)
- a fossil (fossilised remains of an animal or plant)
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- “fossil” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Adjective
[edit]fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)
- fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier)
Etymology 2
[edit]From New Latin.
Noun
[edit]fossil n (definite singular fossilet, indefinite plural fossil, definite plural fossila)
- a fossil (as above)
References
[edit]- “fossil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Swedish
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Adjective
[edit]fossil
Declension
[edit]Inflection of fossil | |||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
Common singular | fossil | — | — |
Neuter singular | fossilt | — | — |
Plural | fossila | — | — |
Masculine plural3 | fossile | — | — |
Definite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
Masculine singular1 | fossile | — | — |
All | fossila | — | — |
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic |
Noun
[edit]fossil n
- a fossil
Declension
[edit]Declension of fossil | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | fossil | fossilet | fossil | fossilen |
Genitive | fossils | fossilets | fossils | fossilens |
Declension of fossil | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | fossil | fossilet | fossiler | fossilerna |
Genitive | fossils | fossilets | fossilers | fossilernas |
Related terms
[edit]References
[edit]- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɒsəl
- Rhymes:English/ɒsəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Paleontology
- en:Linguistics
- Danish terms derived from Latin
- Danish lemmas
- Danish adjectives
- Danish terms derived from New Latin
- Danish nouns
- Danish neuter nouns
- da:Paleontology
- German terms derived from Latin
- German lemmas
- German adjectives
- German uncomparable adjectives
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Latin
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål adjectives
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from New Latin
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål neuter nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns with multiple genders
- nb:Paleontology
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Latin
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk adjectives
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from New Latin
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk neuter nouns
- nn:Paleontology
- Swedish terms with audio links
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish adjectives
- Swedish uncomparable adjectives
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns
- sv:Paleontology