Cretaceous

How to spell cretaceous

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cretaceous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cretaceous mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the geological period at the end of the Mesozoic era, when the last dinosaurs lived and great chalk beds were formed.
2. adjectiveConsisting of, resembling, or containing chalk.

Cretaceous in a sentence

• The fossil was dated to the cretaceous period, around eighty million years ago.

• The cliffs had a soft, cretaceous surface that crumbled in the rain.

• These cretaceous rock layers contain the remains of marine reptiles.

• Workers complained about the cretaceous dust coating their tools.

Where does cretaceous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin cretaceus, meaning 'chalky' or 'abounding in chalk', which was formed from creta, the Latin word for 'chalk'. The Romans believed the finest chalk came from the island of Crete, and some have linked the word to that place name, though the connection is uncertain. English adopted cretaceous in the early 1600s as a learned adjective meaning 'of the nature of chalk'. In the nineteenth century geologists gave it a capital letter and a special meaning, naming the Cretaceous period after the vast chalk deposits, such as the White Cliffs of Dover, that were laid down during that age. The ending -aceous, meaning 'of the nature of' (as in herbaceous and curvaceous), is the spelling trap here, since it sounds like a plain '-shus' yet is written with the unexpected c.

How the word is built

• creta- (chalk)
• -aceous (of the nature of, resembling)