What is a fossilized term?

A fossilized term is a word or root that occurs only as an archaic expression.

A fossilized term is often an idiom or part of an idiom.

• fro in to and fro
• cob- in cobweb, from archaic cop, meaning ‘spider’

• What is a word?

Crystal 1985 127

Mish 1991 487

Wood 1986 63

Context for this page:

• Concept module: fossilized term
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): F
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 28 January 2004

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