Etymology

Pleistocene

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Today it means: Of a geologic epoch within the Quaternary period from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago (earlier definition 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago); marked by the evolution of man, and the extinction of the large mammals. Full definition →

Ancient Greek πλεῖστος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπλεῖστος“most”
  2. English todayPleistocene

From Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos, “most”) and καινός (kainós, “new”), meaning “newest”, coined by Charles Lyell in 1839. By surface analysis, containing the suffix -cene.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.