Etymology

Holocene

H4O1L1O1C3E1N1E1

Today it means: Of a geologic epoch within the Quaternary period from about the year 10 000 BC to the present; the age of man. Full definition →

French Holocène ← Ancient Greek καινός
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκαινός“fresh, new”
  2. French · borrowed fromHolocène
  3. English todayHolocene

From French Holocène, based on holo- (“whole”) + Ancient Greek καινός (kainós, “fresh, new”). Coined to replace the earlier (1833) label Recent, formally submitted in 1867 and officially endorsed in 1969. The concept is that this epoch is entirely (wholly) new. By surface analysis, holo- + -cene.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekκαινός all →

Cenozoic-ceneceno-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.