Fossil word (original) (raw)

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Broadly obsolete words that remain in idiomatic use

A fossil word is a word that is broadly obsolete but remains in current use due to its presence within an idiom or phrase.[1][2] An example for a word sense is 'ado' in 'much ado'. An example for a phrase is 'in point' (relevant), which is retained in the larger phrases 'case in point' (also 'case on point' in the legal context) and 'in point of fact', but is rarely used outside of a legal context.

English-language examples

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ado, as in "without further ado" or "with no further ado" or "much ado about nothing", although the homologous form "to-do" remains attested ("make a to-do", "a big to-do", etc.)
amok, as in "run amok"
bandy, as in "bandy about" or "bandy-legged"
bated, as in "wait with bated breath", although the derived term "abate" remains in non-idiom-specific use
beck, as in "at one's beck and call", although the verb form "beckon" is still used in non-idiom-specific use
bide, as in "bide your time"
champing, as in "champing at the bit", where "champ" is an obsolete precursor to "chomp", in current use
coign, as in "coign of vantage"
deserts, as in "just deserts", although singular "desert" in the sense of "state of deserving" occurs in nonidiom-specific contexts including law and philosophy. "Dessert" is a French loanword, meaning "removing what has been served," and has only a distant etymological connection.
dint, as in "by dint of"
dudgeon, as in "in high dudgeon"
eke, as in "eke out"
fettle, as in "in fine fettle",[3] although the verb, 'to fettle', remains in specialized use in metal casting.[4]
fro, as in "to and fro"
goodly, as in "goodly number"
helter skelter, as in "scattered helter-skelter about the office", Middle English skelten to hasten[5]
inclement, as in "inclement weather”
jetsam, as in "flotsam and jetsam", except in legal contexts (especially admiralty, property, and international law)
kith, as in "kith and kin"[6]
lam, as in “on the lam”
lo, as in "lo and behold"
loggerheads as in "at loggerheads"[7] or loggerhead turtle
muchness as in "much of a muchness"
shebang, as in "the whole shebang", although the word is now used as an unrelated common noun in programmers' jargon.[8]
shrive, preserved only in inflected forms occurring only as part of fixed phrases: 'shrift' in "short shrift"[9] and 'shrove' in "Shrove Tuesday"
span and spick, as in "spick and span"
turpitude, as in "moral turpitude"
vim, as in "vim and vigor", though preserved as the name of a scouring powder [10]
wedlock, as in "out of wedlock"
wend, as in "wend your way",[11] although its former past tense "went" is still in use as the past tense of "to go"
yore, as in "of yore", usually "days of yore"

These words were formed from other languages, by elision, or by mincing of other fixed phrases.

caboodle, as in "kit and caboodle" (evolved from "kit and boodle", itself a fixed phrase borrowed as a unit from Dutch kitte en boedel)
druthers, as in "if I had my druthers..." (formed by elision from "would rather"[12] and never occurring outside this phrase to begin with)
tarnation, as in "what in tarnation...?" (evolved in the context of fixed phrases formed by mincing of previously fixed phrases that include the term "damnation")
nother, as in "a whole nother..." (fixed phrase formed by rebracketing another as a nother, then inserting whole for emphasis; almost never occurs outside this phrase)
Bound morpheme
Collocation — tendency of one word to occur near another
Cranberry morpheme — morpheme which has no independent meaning in a lexeme
Fossilization (linguistics)
Irreversible binomial

^ fossil. Additions Series, 1993 (Second Edition, 1989 ed.). Oxford English Dictionary. A word or other linguistic form preserved only in isolated regions or in set phrases, idioms, or collocations
^ Curme, George Oliver (1931). Syntax. D. C. Heath and Company.[_page needed_]
^ Quinion, Michael. World Wide Words
^ "fettle". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
^ "the definition of helter-skelter". reference.com.
^ Yahoo dictionary kith and kinArchived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
^ Phrase Finder at loggerheads
^ "Starting Off With a Sha-Bang". tldp.org. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
^ Martin, Gary (11 December 2023). "'Short shrift' – the meaning and origin of this phrase". phrases.org.uk.
^ Room, Adrian (1983). Dictionary of Trade Name Origins. Routledge. pp. 184. ISBN 0-7102-0174-5.
^ "What is a Fossil Word". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^ "druthers". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2017-10-04.