coprolite

UK/ˈkɒprəˌlaɪt/US/ˈkɑprəˌlaɪt/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: coprolites

A coprolite is the fossilised droppings of an ancient animal. Find a coprolite.

It is one of the few ways of knowing what an extinct animal actually ate. A coprolite has been found containing the bones of a whole small dinosaur.

Definitions of coprolite

1nouncoproliteThe fossilised droppings of an ancient animal.C2
“The coprolite still held fish scales and a tooth.”

coprolite is a fossil.

Where it comes from

From Greek kopros, dung, plus lithos, stone.

From copro- + -lite.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Dinosaurs & Prehistory

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coprolite in the wild

A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces.
Coprolite
Like other fossils, coprolites have had much of their original composition replaced by mineral deposits such as silicates and calcium carbonates.
Coprolite
During the late 19th century, coprolite, a phosphate-rich fossil used as a fertiliser, was mined in shallow pits around the village.
Little Thetford
The term coprolite is often used interchangeably, although coprolite can also refer to fossilized animal feces.
Paleofeces
Later research, however, argued that the fossil is better interpreted as the impressions of coprolites (fossilized feces) of fish.
Thinopus

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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