coccolith

American

[kok-uh-lith] / ˈkɒk əˌlɪθ /

noun

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.

coccolith British

/ ˈkɒkəlɪθ /

noun

any of the round calcareous plates in chalk formations: formed the outer layer of unicellular plankton

"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

Other Word Forms

coccolithic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of coccolith

1865–70; < New Latin Coccolithus originally a genus name; see coccus, -o-, -lith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023