fossil
fos·sil/ˈfɑsl̩/noun
fossil is spelled F-O-S-S-I-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables (fos·sil). It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fossil means “The mineralized remains of an animal or plant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fossil is fossils.
How many letters and syllables are in fossil?
| Letters | 6: F-O-S-S-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: fos·sil |
| In writing | 9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is fossil?
Fossil appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce fossil?
- UK /ˈfɒsl̩/
- US /ˈfɑsl̩/
Fossil has 2 syllables, split fos·sil in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fossil.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with fossil?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fossil from its last stressed vowel (/ɑsl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of fossil
- fossils plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fossil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
- 2
Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.
- 3
A fossil word.
- 4
Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
- 5
derogatoryAn extremely old or outdated person.
- 6
colloquialA piece of content, which, despite its age, is being repromoted to a large volume of users by the algorithm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fossil in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense The mineralized remains of an animal or plant:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fossil come from?
From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“to dig up”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).