Etymology

foraminifer

for·a·min·if·er
F4O1R1A1M3I1N1I1F4E1R1

Today it means: Any of a large group of aquatic amoeboid protists of the subphylum Foraminifera, characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm that among other things is used for catching food, often with a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude. Full definition →

French foraminifère
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The story

  1. French · derived fromForaminifères
  2. French · borrowed fromforaminifère“foraminifer, foraminifera”
  3. English todayforaminifer

Borrowed from French foraminifère (“foraminifer, foraminifera”), from French Foraminifères, coined by the French naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny (1802–1857) in an 1826 article. By surface analysis, Latin forāmen (“apertures, holes”, stem foramin-) + -fer (“bearing”).

Words from the same roots

Frenchforaminifère all →

foraminifera

FrenchForaminifères all →

foraminifera

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.