fossil

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈfɒs.əl/, US /ˈfɑː.səl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fossile (16th century),^[2][3][4] from Latin fossilis, dug up,^[2][3][5] from fossus, past participle of fodere, to dig (see bed).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, obtained by digging, found buried in the earth: 1563 in the OED;^[6] as a noun, a rock or mineral dug out of the earth, 1619 in Barnhart, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[2][3] The NODE says it first denoted a fossilized fish found, and thought to have lived, underground.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Fossil fishes were believed in the 17th century to live in water underground (1661).^[6] The narrower sense, the remains of a plant or animal of a past age preserved in rock, is from 1665,^[2][6] for the noun 1736 in Etymonline.^[3] The slang sense, an old or old-fashioned person, is first recorded in 1859.^[3] Fossil fuel (1833 in Etymonline, 1835 in the OED) keeps the older, broader sense.^[3][6] Fossilize is from 1794.^[2]

Timeline

• 1563 – dug from the earth.^[6]
• 1619 – a mineral dug up (noun).^[2]
• 1665 – the remains of an organism.^[2][6]
• 1794 – fossilize.^[2]
• 1833 – fossil fuel.^[3]
• 1859 – an old-fashioned person.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The remains or trace of a plant or animal of a past geological age, preserved in rock.
2. (informal) An old or old-fashioned person or idea.

Adjective

1. Of or like a fossil; preserved in rock.
2. Antiquated; belonging to the past.

Word family

• fossillike
• fossiliferous
• fossilise
• fossilize
• macrofossil
• microfossil
• nanofossil
• subfossil

Related words

• fosse
• bed

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press