taphonomy
/tæˈfɒnəmi/noun
taphonomy is spelled T-A-P-H-O-N-O-M-Y: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 35 million words in written English, the 182,517th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, taphonomy means “The study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die, especially the study of fossilization” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of taphonomy is taphonomies.
How many letters and syllables are in taphonomy?
| Letters | 9: T-A-P-H-O-N-O-M-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 35 million words; the 182,517th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is taphonomy?
Taphonomy appears about once in every 35 million words in written English, the 182,517th 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 taphonomy?
- /tæˈfɒnəmi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-taphonomy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of taphonomy
- taphonomies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does taphonomy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The study of the fate of the remains of organisms after they die, especially the study of fossilization.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Taphonomy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the study of the fate of the remains of organisms after death:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | taphonomie |
| German | Taphonomie |
| Spanish | tafonomía |
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.