Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Paleontology |
PaleontologyNoun1. The branch of archeology that studies fossil organisms and related remains. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "paleontology" was first used: 1838. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
History & Folklore | Science that deals with the life of past geological periods. Source: European Union. (references) |
Health | The study of early forms of life through fossil remains. (references) |
Mining | A science that deals with the life of past geological periods, based on the study of fossil remains of plants and animals, and gives information esp. about the phylogeny and relationships of modern animals and plants and about the chronology of the history of the Earth. CF:paleobotany;paleoclimatology; paleogeography. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Paleontology is the study of ancient plants and animals based on the fossil record, evidence of their existence preserved in rocks. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks, burrows, cast off parts, fossilized feces, and chemical residues. Paleontology overlaps to some extent with geology, the study of rocks and rock formations, and with botany, biology, zoology, and ecology, fields concerned with living creatures and how they interact. Palynology is the study of pollens, whether modern or geological.
Paleontology is divided into two major subdivisions. Invertebrate paleontology deals with simple animals. Vertebrate paleontology deals with fossils of animals with backbones. There are many minor specialties such as paleoecology, paleobotany, ichnology (the study of tracks and burrows)and taphonomy, the study what happens to organisms after they expire.
Major areas of study include the division of rock strata into geologic ages and the study of evolution of lifeforms. The latter utilizes a classic binomial nomenclature scheme devised by the mid 18th century Swedish biologist Carolus Linnaeus. This has been augmented (some would say 'replaced') by a somewhat controversial alternative known as "cladistics".
The primary economic importance of paleontology lies in the use of fossils to determine the age and nature of the rocks that contain them or the layers above or below. This information is very important to the mining industries and especially to the petroleum industry.
Fossils were known by primitive man and were sometimes identified correctly as the remains of ancient lifeforms. The organized study of paleontology dates from the late 18th century.
Paleontologists are among the more colorful and eccentric figures in the history of science. Important figures include the Englishman William Smith who first noted that similar fossil sequences were found regionally and Georges Cuvier who initiated the study of ancient animals based on living animals. Legendary Americann figures include Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Marsh, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Louis Agassiz and Charles Walcott.
The swashbuckling movie character Indiana Jones is said to be based loosely on the early 20th century paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews.
See also:
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Paleontology."
Synonyms: PaleontologySynonyms: fossilology (n), palaeontology (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
The Past | Paleontology, paleography, paleology; paleozoology; palaetiology, archaeology; paleogeography; paleoecology; paleobotany; paleoclimatoogy; archaism, antiquarianism, medievalism, Pre-Raphaelitism; paleography. |
Zoology | Anthropology, ornithology, ichthyology, herpetology, ophiology, malacology, helminthology, entomology, oryctology, paleontology, mastology, vermeology; ichthy. ichthyotomy; taxidermy. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Paleontology |
| English words defined with "paleontology": Andrews ♦ fossilist ♦ human paleontology ♦ micropaleontology ♦ natural history ♦ Oryctology ♦ palaeobiology, palaeontological, palaeontologist, Paleo-, paleobiology, paleontological, paleontologist, Paleozooogy ♦ Roy Chapman Andrews ♦ vertebrate paleontology. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "paleontology": historical geology ♦ oriented specimen. (references) |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Paleontology" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Paleontology" is used about 12 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 12 | 101,599 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "paleontology": human paleontology ♦ vertebrate paleontology. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
paleontology | 233 |
journal paleontology | 8 |
paleontology society vertebrate | 8 |
college paleontology | 5 |
paleontology school | 4 |
human paleontology | 4 |
paleontology university | 3 |
fossil and paleontology | 3 |
paleontology job | 3 |
vertebrate paleontology | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "paleontology"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | paleontologji (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Arabic | علم المتحجرات (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Chinese | 古"物学 (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Czech | paleontologie. (various references) | |
Danish | palaeontologi. (various references) | |
Dutch | paleontologie. (various references) | |
French | paléontologie (palaeontology). (various references) | |
German | Palaeontologie, paläontologie (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Greek | παλαιοντολογία (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Hungarian | paleontológia (palaeontology), õslénytan (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Italian | paleontologia (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 化石学 , 古"物学 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | かせきがく, "せいぶつがく. (various references) | |
Korean | 생물학 (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aleontologypay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | paleontologista (palaeontology), paleontologia (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Russian | палеонтология (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | paleontologija (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Spanish | paleontología (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Turkish | paleontoloji (palaeontology), taşılbilim (palaeontology). (various references) | |
Ukranian | палеонтологія (oryctology, palaeontology). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | palaios. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "paleontology": micropaleontology. (additional references) | |
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"Paleontology" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: paeleontology, palaeotology, paleantology, palentology, paleonology, paleontalogy, paleontolgy, paleontologh, paleotology. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "paleontology" (pronounced pā'lēuntÄ"lujē) |
| 12 | p ā' l ē u n t Ä" l u j ē | micropaleontology. |
| 8 | -u n t Ä" l u j ē | gerontology. |
| 7 | -n t Ä" l u j ē | ontology. |
| 6 | -t Ä" l u j ē | cosmetology, cytology, dermatology, histology, otology, rheumatology. |
| 5 | -Ä" l u j ē | anesthesiology, anthology, anthropology, apology, archaeology, archeology, astrology, bacteriology, biology, biotechnology, cardiology, chronology, criminology, dendrochronology, doxology, ecology, embryology, endocrinology, entomology, epidemiology, epistemology, ethnology, ethology, etiology, etymology, genealogy, geology, geomorphology, graphology, gynecology, Hymnology, ideology, immunology, kinesiology, limnology, meteorology, methodology, microbiology, mineralogy, morphology, mycology, mythology, neurology, numerology, oncology, ophthalmology, ornithology, pathology, penology, petrology, pharmacology, physiology, Pomology, psychology, radiology, seismology, serology, sociology, terminology, theology, toxicology, urology, virology, zoology. |
| 4 | -l u j ē | analogy, cosmology, elegy, eulogy, trilogy. |
| 3 | -u j ē | prodigy, strategy. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-g-l-l-n-o-o-o-p-t-y" | |
-1 letter: planetology. | |
-3 letters: polygonal, polytonal. | |
-4 letters: allotype, gantlope, logotype, oenology, ontology, penology, polyglot, topology. | |
-5 letters: allonge, anolyte, aplenty, apology, enology, galleon, galloon, galloot, gellant, langley, neology, otology, penally, penalty, platoon, playlet, polenta, polygon, tangelo, tollage, tonally. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-g-l-l-n-o-o-o-p-t-y" | |
+5 letters: micropaleontology, paleoanthropology. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 61 6C 65 6F 6E 74 6F 6C 6F 67 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .- .-.. . --- -. - --- .-.. --- --. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01100001 01101100 01100101 01101111 01101110 01110100 01101111 01101100 01101111 01100111 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P a l e o n t o l o g y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 0061 006C 0065 006F 006E 0074 006F 006C 006F 0067 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)506778718180868178817391 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
