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coccolith

American  
[kok-uh-lith] / ˈkɒk əˌlɪθ /

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.

coccolith British  
/ ˈkɒkəlɪθ /

noun

  1. 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; coccus, -o-, -lith

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.