fossiliferous en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree English fossil Latin -i-bor. English -i- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Italic *ferō Latin ferō Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English -ferous English fossiliferous From fossil + -i- + -ferous.
Meanings
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Containing fossils.
The area contains a great thickness of well exposed fossiliferous, marine strata of uppermost Cretaceous and Eocene age, and it is felt that the most continuous and complete section may be found here.
1951, Max B Payne, Type Moreno formation and overlying Eocene strata on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno and Merced Counties, California, page 3:Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Fossil Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 506:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more fossiliferous | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most fossiliferous | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
non-fossiliferous · fossiliferously · unfossiliferous · nonfossiliferous
Translations (6)
de fossilführend (containing fossils) · fr fossilifère (containing fossils) · de fossilienhaltig (containing fossils) · fi fossiilipitoinen (containing fossils) · it fossilifero (containing fossils) · el απολιθωματοφόρος (containing fossils)