Wiktionary

fossil

See also: Fossil, fóssil, and fòssil

English

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A fossil.
 fossil on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I 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.
  3. (linguistics) A fossil word.
  4. (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
  5. (figuratively) An extremely old or outdated person.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

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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
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

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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 (“I dig up”).

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

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 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

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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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