fossil

See also: Fossil, fóssil, and fòssil

English

A fossil.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒsl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑsl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒsəl
• Hyphenation: fos‧sil

Noun

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 (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.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 (figuratively) An extremely old or outdated person.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

• body fossil
• cast fossil
• fossil car
• fossil damascus
• fossil fool
• fossil fuel
• fossiliferous
• fossilisation, fossilization
• fossilise, fossilize
• fossil oil
• fossil record
• fossil resin
• fossil twister
• fossil water
• ichnofossil
• index fossil
• living fossil
• mesofossil
• microfossil
• mold fossil
• non-fossil, nonfossil
• trace fossil

 

Translations

The mineralized remains of an animal or plant

• Arabic: مُسْتَحَاثَة f (mustaḥāṯa), أُحْفُورَة f (ʔuḥfūra)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: fósil m
• Belarusian: вы́капень m (výkapjenʹ), скамяне́ласць f (skamjanjélascʹ)
• Bulgarian: вкаменелост (bg) f (vkamenelost)
• Catalan: fòssil m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化石 (zh) (huàshí)

• Czech: zkamenělina f, fosilie (cs) f
• Danish: fossil (da) n
• Dutch: fossiel (nl) n
• Esperanto: fosilio
• Finnish: fossiili (fi)
• French: fossile (fr) m
• Galician: fósil (gl) m
• German: Fossil (de) n
• Greek: απολίθωμα (el) n (apolíthoma)
• Hindi: जीवाश्म m (jīvāśma)
• Hungarian: fosszília (hu)
• Icelandic: steingervingur m
• Ido: fosilo (io)
• Indonesian: fosil (id)
• Irish: iontaise f
• Italian: fossile (it) m
• Japanese: 化石 (ja) (かせき, kaseki)
• Khmer: ហ្វូស៊ីល (fousiil), បាសាណីភូត (baasaanəyphuut)
• Korean: 화석(化石) (ko) (hwaseok)
• Lao: ຊາກຊີວະບູຮານ (lo) (sāk sī wa bū hān)
• Latin: fossilis m
• Latvian: fosilija f, pārakmeņojums m
• Macedonian: фоси́л m (fosíl)
• Malay: fosil (ms)
• Maori: mātātoka
• Norman: fossile f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fossil (no) m or n

  Nynorsk: fossil n

• Persian: فسیل (fa) (fosil), سنگواره (fa) (sangvâre)
• Polish: skamielina (pl) f, skamieniałość (pl) f
• Portuguese: fóssil (pt)
• Romanian: fosilă (ro) f
• Russian: ископа́емое (ru) n (iskopájemoje), окамене́лость (ru) f (okamenélostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: fòsīl (sh) m, фо̀сӣл m
• Slovak: skamenelina f
• Slovene: fosil (sl) m, okamenina f
• Spanish: fósil (es) m
• Swahili: kisukuku (sw)
• Swedish: fossil (sv) n
• Tagalog: hayto
• Thai: ฟอสซิล (th) (fɔ́ɔt-sîn), ซากดึกดำบรรพ์ (sâak-dʉ̀k-dam-ban)
• Turkish: fosil (tr), taşıl (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: مستحاثه (müstehase)

• Ukrainian: копа́лина f (kopályna), скам'яні́лість f (skamʺjanílistʹ)
• Vietnamese: hoá thạch (vi)
• Yiddish: פֿאָסיל m (fosil)
• Yoruba: àkẹ̀kù

paleontology: any preserved evidence of ancient life

• Bulgarian: фосил (bg) m (fosil)
• Hungarian: ősmaradvány (hu) sg
• Irish: iontaise f
• Italian: fossile (it) m
• Maori: mātātoka
• Persian: فسیل (fa) (fosil), سنگواره (fa) (sangvâre)
• Romanian: fosilă (ro) f

a fossilized term

• Catalan: fòssil m
• Finnish: fossiili (fi)
• Italian: fossile (it) m
• Portuguese: fóssil (pt)
• Romanian: fosilă (ro) f

anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated

• Bulgarian: изкопаемо (bg) n (izkopaemo)
• Catalan: fòssil m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化石 (zh) (huàshí)

• Danish: oldtidslevning c
• Finnish: fossiili (fi)
• German: Fossil (de) n
• Hungarian: őskövület (hu)
• Italian: fossile (it) m
• Japanese: 化石 (ja) (かせき, kaseki)
• Persian: فسیل (fa) (fosil)
• Portuguese: fóssil (pt)
• Romanian: fosilă (ro) f
• Russian: ископа́емое (ru) n (iskopájemoje)
• Serbo-Croatian: fòsīl (sh) m
• Turkish: fosil (tr)

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

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} fossiil

See also

• coprolite
• Fossil (Oregon)

Danish

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

fossil

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

Inflection

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

From New Latin fossile.

Noun

fossil n (singular definite fossilet, plural indefinite fossiler)

1. fossil

Inflection

Declension of fossil

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	fossil	fossilet	fossiler	fossilerne
genitive	fossils	fossilets	fossilers	fossilernes

German

Etymology

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

Adjective

fossil (strong nominative masculine singular fossiler, not comparable)

1. fossil

Declension

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

• “fossil” in Duden online
• “fossil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Latin fossilis.

Adjective

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

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

Etymology 2

From New Latin fossile.

Noun

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

• levende fossil

References

• “fossil” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Latin fossilis.

Adjective

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

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

Etymology 2

From New Latin.

Noun

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

1. a fossil (as above)

References

• “fossil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

fossil

1. fossil

Declension

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

fossil n

1. a fossil

Declension

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

Related terms

• dinosauriefossil
• fossilbränsle
• fossilerad
• fossilförande
• fossilisation
• fossilisera
• fossilisering

References

• fossil in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)