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Fossil

Science
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Preserved remains, traces, or impressions of ancient life. Fossils provide evidence about organisms and environments of the past.

Detailed Definition
A fossil may be a bone, shell, leaf impression, footprint, burrow, or chemical trace preserved in rock or sediment over immense periods. Fossils do not simply retain bodies; they record contact between a living thing and the conditions that allowed its mark to endure. In poetry, a fossil can represent inheritance, silence, extinction, or the persistence of a gesture after its maker is gone. It turns deep time into something touchable, fragile, and legible.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The fossil fern kept its dark green shape in stone,” shows how an ancient organism can leave an imprint; A poet might use a fossil as evidence of deep time: “A shell fossil in the cliff outlived every wave that named it”; “Her old laugh was a fossil in the house,” uses the term metaphorically for a preserved trace of the past; In an elegy, “We brushed the fossil gently from the shale,” can make recovery and remembrance feel careful.
Additional Notes
A fossil preserves ancient remains or traces, such as bones, shells, or footprints. It can represent deep time, evidence, and memory held in stone.
Other Meanings of “Fossil”
Also Known As
Petrifaction Petrified Remains
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