Fossil word

Updated on Dec 12, 2024

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A fossil word is a word that is broadly obsolete but remains in currency because it is contained within an idiom still in use.

Fossil status can also occur for word senses and for phrases. An example for a word sense is 'navy' in 'merchant navy', which means 'commercial fleet' (although that sense of navy is obsolete elsewhere). An example for a phrase is 'in point' (relevant), which is retained in the larger phrases 'case in point' (also 'case on point' in the legal context) and 'in point of fact', but is rarely used outside of a legal context.

English-language examples

ado, as in "without further ado" or "much ado about nothing", although the homologous form "to-do" remains attested ("make a to-do", "a big to-do", etc.)

bandy, as in "bandy about" or "bandy-legged"

bated, as in "wait with bated breath", although the derived term "abate" remains in nonidiom-specific use

beck, as in "at one's beck and call", although the verb form "beckon" is still used in nonidiom-specific use

bygones, as in "let bygones be bygones"

caboodle, as in "kit and caboodle" (a "born fossil" in that "kit and caboodle" evolved from "kit and boodle", which itself was a fixed phrase borrowed as a unit from Dutch kitte en boedel)

coign, as in "coign of vantage"

deserts, as in "just deserts", although singular "desert" in the sense of "state of deserving" occurs in nonidiom-specific contexts including law and philosophy

dint, as in "by dint of"

druthers, as in "if I had my druthers..." (note that "druthers" is a "born fossil", having been formed by elision from " ['I'd/(I would) rathers' and never occurring outside the listed phrase to begin with)

dudgeon, as in "in high dudgeon"

eke, as in "eke out"

fettle, as in "in fine fettle"

fro, as in "to and fro"

helter skelter, as in "scattered helter skelter about the office", Middle English skelten to hasten

hither, as in "come hither", "hither and thither", and "hither and yon"

immemorial, as in "time immemorial"

jetsam, as in "flotsam and jetsam", except in legal contexts (especially admiralty, property, and international law)

kith, as in "kith and kin"

loggerheads as in "at loggerheads" or loggerhead turtle

neap, as in "neap tide"

offing, as in "in the offing"

petard, as in "hoist[ed] by [one's] own petard"

riddance, as in "good riddance"

shebang, as in "the whole shebang", but the word can be used as a common noun in programmers' jargon.

shrive, preserved only in inflected forms occurring only as part of fixed phrases: 'shrift' in "short shrift" and 'shrove' in "Shrove Tuesday"

spick, as in "spick and span"

tarnation, as in "what in tarnation...?" (a "born fossil" in that it evolved only in the context of fixed phrases formed by mincing of previously fixed phrases that include the term "damnation")

turpitude, as in "moral turpitude"

wedlock, as in "out of wedlock"

wreak, as in "wreak havoc"

vim, as in "vim and vigor"

yore, as in "of yore", usually "days of yore"

References

Fossil word Wikipedia

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