Meanings
cretaceous1
Cretaceous2
- geographyThe geologic period within the Mesozoic era that comprises lower and upper epochs from about 146 to 66 million years ago.
As with the Lejeuneaceae, this pattern of massive speciation appears to be correlated with the Cretaceous explosion of the angiosperms and the simultaneous creation of a host of new microenvironments, differing in humidity, light intensity, texture, etc.
1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, pages 3–41 more example
Fossils are particularly well described from the Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and have been found in the USA, England, Russia, Lebanon and Germany. Sites such as Lyme Regis in Dorset have particularly yielded number of Jurassic “squid” ink sacs and nodules (Doguzhaeva et al. 2004).
2017 August 9, Mark Carnall, “Why do cephalopods produce ink? And what's ink made of, anyway?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Jan 2026
Origin
cretaceous · adjective
- Latincreta
- Latincretaceus“chalky”
- Englishcretaceous
From Latin cretaceus (“chalky”), from Latin creta.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian тебеширен
- тебеширен (tebeširen)of or relating to chalk
Catalan cretaci
- cretacigeologic period within the Mesozoic
Chinese Mandarin 白堊紀 /白垩纪
- 白堊紀 /白垩纪 (Bái'èjì)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Czech křída
- křídageologic period within the Mesozoic
Dutch Krijt
- Krijtgeologic period within the Mesozoic
Estonian kriit, kriidiajastu
- kriitgeologic period within the Mesozoic
- kriidiajastugeologic period within the Mesozoic
Finnish liitukausi
- liitukausigeologic period within the Mesozoic
French crayeux, crétacé
- crayeuxof or relating to chalk
- crétacéconsisting of chalk
- crayeuxconsisting of chalk
- Crétacégeologic period within the Mesozoic
German Kreide
- Kreidegeologic period within the Mesozoic
Greek Κρητιδική
- Κρητιδική (Kritidikí)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Hebrew קְרֶטִיקוֹן
- קְרֶטִיקוֹן (qretiqón)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Hungarian kréta
- krétageologic period within the Mesozoic
Italian cretacico, cretaceo
- cretacicogeologic period within the Mesozoic
- cretaceogeologic period within the Mesozoic
Japanese 白亜紀, 白堊紀
- 白亜紀 (Hakuaki)geologic period within the Mesozoic
- 白堊紀 (Hakuaki)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Korean 백악기
- 백악기 (Baegakgi)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Norwegian kritt
- krittgeologic period within the Mesozoic
Polish kreda
- kredageologic period within the Mesozoic
Portuguese cretáceo
- cretáceogeologic period within the Mesozoic
Romanian cretacic
- cretacicgeologic period within the Mesozoic
Russian мелово́й пери́од, мел
- мелово́й пери́од (melovój períod)geologic period within the Mesozoic
- мел (mel)geologic period within the Mesozoic
Spanish Cretáceo, Cretácico
- Cretáceogeologic period within the Mesozoic
- Cretácicogeologic period within the Mesozoic
Swedish krita
- kritageologic period within the Mesozoic
Turkish kretase
- kretasegeologic period within the Mesozoic
Ukrainian кре́йдовий
- кре́йдовий (kréjdovyj)of or relating to chalk
Vietnamese kỉ Crê-ta, kỉ Phấn Trắng
- kỉ Crê-tageologic period within the Mesozoic
- kỉ Phấn Trắnggeologic period within the Mesozoic
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with cretaceous
Cite this entry
cretaceous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cretaceous
“cretaceous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cretaceous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cretaceous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cretaceous.
Source: cretaceous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.