Eocene

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἠώς“dawn”
2. English todayEocene

From Ancient Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn”) + καινός (kainós, “new”) and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1831 for Charles Lyell, who introduced it in 1833 in his book Principles of Geology. By surface analysis, eo- + -cene.

Words from the same roots