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coccolith

[kok-uh-lith]
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noun
  1. a microscopic calcareous disk or ring making up part of the covering of certain marine plankton and forming much of the content of chalk rocks.
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Origin of coccolith

1865–70; < New Latin Coccolithus originally a genus name; see coccus, -o-, -lith
Related formscoc·co·lith·ic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for coccolith

coccolith

noun
  1. any of the round calcareous plates in chalk formations: formed the outer layer of unicellular plankton
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Word Origin

C19: New Latin, from Greek kokkos berry + lithos stone
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012