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((short description|Broadly obsolete words that remain in idiomatic use))
((More citations needed|date=August 2021))
A '''fossil word''' is a [[word]] that is broadly [[wikt:obsolete#Adjective|obsolete]] but remains in current use due to its presence within an [[idiom]], [[word sense]], or [[phrase]].<ref>((cite book |url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50089008? |title=fossil |publisher=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |edition=Second Edition, 1989 |series=Additions Series, 1993 |quote=A word or other linguistic form preserved only in isolated regions or in set phrases, idioms, or collocations))</ref><ref>((cite book |last=Curme |first=George Oliver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsl5AAAAIAAJ&q=CURME+Syntax |title=Syntax |publisher=D. C. Heath and Company |year=1931))((page needed|date=August 2021))</ref> An example for a word sense is 'ado' in 'much ado'. An example for a phrase is '[[wikt:in point|in point]]' (relevant), which is retained in the larger phrases '[[wikt:case in point|case in point]]' (also 'case on point' in the legal context) and '[[wikt:in point of fact|in point of fact]]', but is rarely used outside of a legal context.

== English-language examples ==
* ''ado'', as in "[[wikt:without further ado|without further ado]]" or "[[wikt:with no further ado|with no further ado]]" or "[[wikt:much ado about nothing|much ado about nothing]]", although the homologous form "to-do" remains attested ("make a to-do", "a big to-do", etc.)
* ''bandy'', as in "[[wikt:bandy|bandy about]]" or "[[wikt:bandy|bandy-legged]]"
* ''bated'', as in "[[wikt:bated breath|wait with bated breath]]", although the derived term "abate" remains in non-idiom-specific use
* ''beck'', as in "[[wikt:beck and call|at one's beck and call]]", although the verb form "beckon" is still used in non-idiom-specific use
* ''bide'', as in "bide your time"
* ''champing'', as in "[[wikt:champing_at_the_bit|champing at the bit]]", where "champ" is an obsolete precursor to "chomp", in current use
* ''coign'', as in "[[wikt:coign of vantage|coign of vantage]]"
* ''deserts'', as in "[[wikt:just deserts|just deserts]]", although singular "desert" in the sense of "state of deserving" occurs in nonidiom-specific contexts including law and philosophy. "Dessert" is a French loanword, meaning "removing what has been served," and has only a distant etymological connection.
* ''dint'', as in "[[wikt:by dint of|by dint of]]"
* ''dudgeon'', as in "[[wikt:in high dudgeon|in high dudgeon]]"
* ''eke'', as in "[[wikt:eke out|eke out]]"
* ''fettle'', as in "[[wikt:in fine fettle|in fine fettle]]",<ref>Quinion, Michael. [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fet1.htm World Wide Words]</ref> although the verb, 'to fettle', remains in specialized use in metal casting.<ref>((cite web |title=fettle |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fettle |website=The Free Dictionary |access-date=2021-08-30))</ref>
* ''fro'', as in "[[wikt:to and fro|to and fro]]"
* ''goodly', as in "goodly number"
* ''helter skelter'', as in "scattered [[wikt:helter skelter|helter skelter]] about the office", Middle English ((lang|enm|skelten)) to hasten<ref>((cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/helter-skelter|title=the definition of helter-skelter|work=reference.com))</ref>
* ''inclement'', as in "inclement weather”
* ''jetsam'', as in "[[wikt:flotsam and jetsam|flotsam and jetsam]]", except in legal contexts (especially admiralty, property, and international law)
* ''kith'', as in "[[wikt:kith and kin|kith and kin]]"<ref>[http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/kith%20and%20kin Yahoo dictionary ''kith and kin'']((webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606091152/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/kith%20and%20kin |date=2011-06-06 ))</ref>
* ''lam'', as in “on the lam”
* ''lo'', as in "lo and behold"
* ''loggerheads'' as in "[[wikt:at loggerheads|at loggerheads]]"<ref>[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/at-loggerheads.html Phrase Finder ''at loggerheads'']</ref> or [[loggerhead turtle]]
* ''muchness'' as in "[[wikt:much of a muchness|much of a muchness]]"
* ''shebang'', as in "[[wikt:whole shebang|the whole shebang]]", although the word is now used as an unrelated common noun [[Shebang (Unix)|in programmers' jargon]].<ref>((Cite web|url=http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/sha-bang.html|title=Starting Off With a Sha-Bang|website=tldp.org|access-date=2016-12-02))</ref>
* ''shrive'', preserved only in inflected forms occurring only as part of fixed phrases: 'shrift' in "[[wikt:short shrift|short shrift]]"<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/short-shrift.html|title='Short shrift' – the meaning and origin of this phrase|first=Gary|last=Martin|work=phrases.org.uk))</ref> and 'shrove' in "[[Shrove Tuesday]]"
* ''span'' and ''spick'', as in "[[wikt:spick and span|spick and span]]"
* ''turpitude'', as in "[[wikt:moral turpitude|moral turpitude]]"
* ''vim'', as in "[[wikt:vim|vim and vigor]]"
* ''wedlock'', as in "out of wedlock"
* ''wend'', as in "wend your way"<ref>((cite web |title=What is a Fossil Word |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/fossil-words/what-is-a-fossil-word |website=Merriam Webster |access-date=20 August 2021))</ref>
* ''yore'', as in "[[wikt:days of yore|of yore]]", usually "days of yore"

==="Born fossils"===
These words were formed from other languages, by elision, or by mincing of other fixed phrases.
* ''caboodle'', as in "[[wikt:kit and caboodle|kit and caboodle]]" (evolved from "kit and boodle", itself a fixed phrase borrowed as a unit from Dutch ((lang|nl|kitte en boedel)))
* ''druthers'', as in "[[wikt:druthers|if I had my druthers...]]" (formed by elision from "would rather"<ref>((cite web |title=druthers |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/druthers |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=2017-10-04))</ref> and never occurring outside this phrase to begin with)
* ''tarnation'', as in "[[wikt:tarnation|what in tarnation...?]]" (evolved in the context of fixed phrases formed by [[minced oath|mincing]] of previously fixed phrases that include the term "damnation")
* ''nother'', as in "[[wikt:nother#Etymology_2|a whole nother...]]" (fixed phrase formed by [[rebracketing]] ''another'' as ''a nother'', then inserting ''whole'' for emphasis; almost never occurs outside this phrase)

== See also ==
* [[Bound morpheme]]
* [[Collocation]] — tendency of one word to occur near another
* [[Cranberry morpheme]] — morpheme which has no independent meaning in a lexeme
* [[Fossilization (linguistics)]]
* [[Irreversible binomial]]

== References ==
((Reflist))

[[Category:Historical linguistics]]
[[Category:Lists of English words]]
[[Category:Vocabulary]]
[[Category:Archaic words and phrases]]
[[Category:Idioms]]

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