# fossil
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈfɒsl̩/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈfɑsl̩/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒsəl
* Hyphenation: fos‧sil

### Noun

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* (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
* (figuratively) An extremely old or outdated person.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

* body fossil
* cast fossil
* chemofossil
* fossilate
* fossil car
* fossil damascus
* fossildom
* fossiled
* fossil fool
* fossil fuel
* fossil gas
* fossilhood
* fossiliferous
* fossilification
* fossilify
* fossilisation, fossilization
* fossilise, fossilize
* fossilism
* fossilist
* fossility
* fossillike
* fossilogy
* fossil oil
* fossilology
* fossil record
* fossil resin
* fossil twister
* fossil water
* ichnofossil
* index fossil
* living fossil
* macrofossil
* magnetofossil
* megafossil
* mesofossil
* microfossil
* mold fossil
* nanofossil
* non-fossil, nonfossil
* palynofossil
* pseudofossil
* semifossil
* subfossil
* technofossil
* trace fossil

#### Translations

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

### See also

* coprolite
* Fossil (Oregon)

## Danish
### Etymology 1

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

#### Adjective

fossil
* fossil (noun modifier), fossilised (UK), fossilized

##### Inflection

$^1$ 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)
* fossil

##### Inflection
## 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)
* fossil

#### Declension
### 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier)

### Etymology 2

From New Latin.

#### Noun

fossil n (definite singular fossilet, indefinite plural fossil, definite plural fossila)
* a fossil (as above)

### References

* “fossil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

fossil
* fossil

#### Declension

$^1$ 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
* a fossil

#### Related terms

* dinosauriefossil
* fossilbränsle
* fossilerad
* fossilförande
* fossilisation
* fossilisera
* fossilisering

### References

* fossil in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)