different between detritus vs flotsam

English

Etymology

From Latin d?tr?tus (“the act of rubbing away”), from d?ter? (“rub away”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??t?a?t?s/
• Rhymes: -a?t?s

Noun

detritus (usually uncountable, plural detritus or detrita)

1. (countable, chiefly geology) Pieces of rock broken off by ice, glacier, or erosion.
2. (biology, ecology) Organic waste material from decomposing dead plants or animals.
   • 2009, Christian Wirth, Gerd Gleixner, Martin Heimann, Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate and Value, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 159:

     Woody detritus is an important component of forested ecosystems. It can reduce erosion and affects soil development, stores nutrients and water, provides a major source of energy and nutrients, and serves as a seedbed for plants and as a major habitat for decomposers and hetereotrophs.

3. (by extension) Any debris or fragments of disintegrated material.

Derived terms

• detrital / detritic
• detritivore
• zoodetritus

Translations

Further reading

• detritus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From d?ter? (“rub away”), from d? (“away”) + ter? (“rub”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /de??tri?.tus/, [d?e??t??i?t??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /de?tri.tus/, [d???t??i?t?us]

Participle

d?tr?tus (feminine d?tr?ta, neuter d?tr?tum); first/second-declension participle

1. rubbed away, worn away, worn out, having been rubbed away
2. (figuratively) diminished in force, lessened, weakened, impaired, having been weakened
3. (figuratively) worn out, trite, hackneyed, having been worn out

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Noun

d?tr?tus m (genitive d?tr?t?s); fourth declension

1. The act of rubbing away

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Related terms

• d?ter?
• d?tr?ment?sus
• d?tr?mentum

Descendants

References

• detritus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• detritus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• detritus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Romanian

Etymology

From French détritus, from Latin detritus.

Noun

detritus n (uncountable)

1. detritus

Declension

Spanish

Noun

detritus m (plural detritus)

1. detritus

English

Alternative forms

• floatsome (dialectal)
• flotson (dated)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman floteson, from Old French flotaison (“a floating”), from floter (“to float”), of Germanic origin (See float.), + -aison, from Latin -atio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl?ts?m/

Noun

flotsam (countable and uncountable, plural flotsams)

1. Debris floating in a river or sea, in particular fragments from a shipwreck.

Derived terms

• flotsam and jetsam

Translations

See also

• flotsam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• lagan
• jetsam
• derelict
• salvage

Anagrams

• fotmals