fossil word
Meanings
noun
- A word that is broadly obsolete but remains in current use because it is contained within an idiom that is still in use.
Word forms
Etymology
Probably from the fact that a fossil was once a living organism, but is still of historical and scientific interest.
Related words
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.