Dictionary

living fossil en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈlɪvɪŋ ˈfɒsl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈlɪvɪŋ ˈfɑsl̩/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The term was coined by the English biologist, geologist, and naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) in his work On the Origin of Species (1859): see the quotation below.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:evolutionary theory) Any species discovered first as a fossil and believed extinct, but which is later found living; an organism that has remained unchanged over geological periods.
   • Angus: Impossible! If what you say is true, he'd have to be thousands of years old. / Rothie: Astounding! The age-o-meter dates your particles all the way back to 25 B.A., twenty-five years before Aku enslaved the Earth. You, my friend, are a living fossil. / Jack: So the question is not where I am but when I am. […] The spell Aku cast must have ripped me from my own time and flung me into the distant future. 2001 August 10, Paul Rudish, Genndy Tartakovsky, “Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie – Part II: The Samurai Called Jack”, in Samurai Jack, season 1, episode 2:
   • It features in textbooks as well, a prime example of a "living fossil", a reminder of past glories now hanging on in a last-ditch action against final extinction. But is nautilus really an anachronism? 1986 October 23, Martin Wells, “Legend of the Living Fossil”, in Michael Kenward, editor, New Scientist, volume 112, number 1531, London: New Science Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 36, column 1:
   • [I]n fresh water we find some of the most anomalous forms now known in the world, as the Ornithorhynchus and Lepidosiren, which, like fossils, connect to a certain extent orders now widely separated in the natural scale. These anomalous forms may almost be called living fossils; they have endured to the present day, from having inhabited a confined area, and from having thus been exposed to less severe competition. 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 107:
   • The Gingko, whose single existing species was aptly termed a living fossil by [Charles] Darwin and which survived to modern times only in eastern Asia and is now a prized ornamental tree in all temperate countries, has an ancestral history that goes back to remote geologic time. 1929 April 18, Edward W[ilber] Berry, “A Revision of the Flora of the Latah Formation”, in W[alter] C[urran] Mendenhall, editor, Shorter Contributions to General Geology 1928 (U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper; 154), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 229, column 1:
   • The coelacanth and the dawn redwood are living fossils.
2. (qualifier:evolutionary theory) Any living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives in most anatomical details.
   • These relics of Europe’s dawning are deserving of special recognition, for they are in effect Europe’s living fossils, as precious as the platypus and lungfish. 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 34:
   • Living in apparently splendid ease, travelling with a retinue of seventy, demanding the many courtesies due to a peer of the realm, exacting from his many manors rents and incidentals such as private wardships, in exactly the same way as did the lay lords, and making the most of his public appearances in the role either of judge or of administrator, [Matthew] Parker seemed to some an anachronism. He seemed to be a living fossil from 'the days of popery' (as contemporaries, lacking an historical sense and groping for an expression adequate to convey what they meant, called the medieval era). 1967 April, J. I. Daeley, “Pluralism in the Diocese of Canterbury during the Administration of Matthew Parker, 1559–1575”, in C. W. Dugmore, editor, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, volume XVIII, number 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34:
   • Crocodiles are living fossils that haven’t changed their appearance much in millions of years.
   • There are four living families of Anaspidacea, but only the Anaspididae are of interest in the context of "living fossils" since they bear the closest resemblance to the extinct Palaeocaridacea. 1984, Frederick R[obert] Schram, Robert R. Hessler, “Anaspidid Syncarida”, in Niles Eldredge, Steven M. Stanley, editors, Living Fossils (Casebooks in Earth Sciences), New York, N.Y.: Springer Verlag, →ISBN; 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Springer Verlag, 1984, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN:
   • Tucker-Brown explained how lemurs—like much of the “stranded” flora and fauna of Madagascar—are effectively living fossils. Belonging to a primate group called prosimians, lemurs were evolutionarily superseded by monkeys on mainland Africa 35mn years ago and driven to near-extinction. 2025 July 5, Mike Carter, “Deep in the island ark”, in FT Weekend (Travel section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6:

Forms

Translations (55)

yue 活化石 (living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives) · sk žijúce skameneniny (species believed extinct but later found living) · yue 活化石 (species believed extinct but later found living) · hu élő kövület (species believed extinct but later found living) · ca fòssil vivent (species believed extinct but later found living) · lt gyvoji fosilija (species believed extinct but later found living) · ko 살아 있는 화석 (species believed extinct but later found living) · li laevend fossiel (species believed extinct but later found living) · cs živoucí fosílie (species believed extinct but later found living) · id fosil hidup (species believed extinct but later found living) · pl żywa skamieniałość (species believed extinct but later found living) · et elav fossiil (species believed extinct but later found living) · te సజీవ శిలాజాలు (species believed extinct but later found living) · es fósil viviente (species believed extinct but later found living) · ja 生きている化石 (species believed extinct but later found living) · be жывы выкапень (species believed extinct but later found living) · de lebendes Fossil (species believed extinct but later found living) · bg живи вкаменелости (species believed extinct but later found living) · ga iontaise bheo (species believed extinct but later found living) · he מאובן חי (species believed extinct but later found living) · uk живі викопні (species believed extinct but later found living) · af lewende fossiel (species believed extinct but later found living) · pnb جیوندے پتھری جاندار (species believed extinct but later found living) · vi hóa thạch sống (species believed extinct but later found living) · fr fossile vivant (species believed extinct but later found living) · nb levende fossil (species believed extinct but later found living) · nl levend fossiel (species believed extinct but later found living) · ka ცოცხალი ნამარხი (living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives) · cmn 活化石 (species believed extinct but later found living) · eo vivanta fosilio (species believed extinct but later found living) · tr yaşayan fosil (species believed extinct but later found living) · ar حفرية حية (species believed extinct but later found living) · ml സജീവഫോസിൽ (species believed extinct but later found living) · ja 生きた化石 (species believed extinct but later found living) · sl živi fosil (species believed extinct but later found living) · sv levande fossil (species believed extinct but later found living) · ta வாழும் தொல்லுயிர் எச்சம் (species believed extinct but later found living) · th ซากดึกดำบรรพ์มีชีวิต (species believed extinct but later found living) · ka ცოცხალი ნამარხი (species believed extinct but later found living) · fa فسیل زنده (species believed extinct but later found living) · it fossile vivente (species believed extinct but later found living) · ru живые ископаемые (species believed extinct but later found living) · sk živé fosílie (species believed extinct but later found living) · pt fóssil vivo (species believed extinct but later found living) · hi जीवित जीवाश्म (species believed extinct but later found living) · eu fosil bizidun (species believed extinct but later found living) · ro fosilă vie (species believed extinct but later found living) · pl żywa skamielina (species believed extinct but later found living) · oc fossil vivent (species believed extinct but later found living) · de Dauerform (species believed extinct but later found living) · fi elävä fossiili (species believed extinct but later found living) · nl levend fossiel (living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives) · cmn 活化石 (living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives) · kk тіpі қазындылар (species believed extinct but later found living) · fi elävä fossiili (living species which very closely resembles fossil relatives)

wikipedia: On the Origin of Species · wikipedia: W. W. Norton & Company · wikipedia: Charles Darwin