coprolite

C3O1P3R1O1L1I1T1E1
UK/ˈkɒprəˌlaɪt/US/ˈkɑprəˌlaɪt/

noun

A fossil consisting of petrified dung.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nouncoprolite (plural coprolites)

plural coprolites

  1. A fossil consisting of petrified dung.

    Analyses of the DNA fragments preserved in the moa and kakapo coprolites showed that moa and kakapo fed on fungi.

    2018 April 4, Hanneke Meijer, “On fossil poo and picky eaters: a new study sheds light on New Zealand's past ecosystem”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2018
    2 more examples

    This coprolite (the technical term for palaeo-poo) has yielded much to modern scrutiny. First, it is completely devoid of plant matter, including the corn and other plants that the Anasazi Pueblo people of the region lived on.

    2000 September 7, Henry Gee, “Eating people - is it bad taste?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 May 2014

    Almost inevitably, he became the leading authority on coprolites – fossilized faeces – and had a table made entirely out of his collection of specimens.

    2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

Origin

Translations

Catalan copròlit
  • copròlitfossilized excrement
Finnish koproliitti
  • koproliittifossilized excrement
French coprolithe
  • coprolithefossilized excrement
German Koprolith, Kotstein
  • Koprolithfossilized excrement
  • Kotsteinfossilized excrement
  • Darmsteinfossilized excrement
  • fossilierte Exkrementefossilized excrement
Italian coprolite
  • coprolitefossilized excrement
Polish koprolit
  • koprolitfossilized excrement
Portuguese coprólito
  • coprólitofossilized excrement
Spanish coprolito
  • coprolitofossilized excrement
Swedish koprolit
  • koprolitfossilized excrement
Cite this entry
APA

coprolite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprolite

MLA

“coprolite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprolite. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coprolite,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coprolite.

Source: coprolite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.