different between foraminifer vs foraminiferal

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French foraminifère (“foraminifer”), from French Foraminifères coined by the French naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny (1802–1857) in an 1826 article. Foraminifère is derived from Latin for?mina (“apertures, holes”) + -ifer (a variant of -fer (suffix meaning ‘bearing, carrying’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *b?er- (“to bear, carry”)), that is, “having holes”. For?mina is the plural of for?men (“aperture or opening produced by boring; hole”), from for? (“to bore, pierce”) (from Proto-Indo-European *b?erH- (“to pierce; to strike”)) + -men (suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f????m?n?f?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f????m?n?f?/
• Hyphenation: for?a?min?if?er

Noun

foraminifer (plural foraminifers)

1. Any of a large group of aquatic amoeboid protists of the subphylum Foraminifera, characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm that among other things is used for catching food, often with a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude.

   Synonyms: foram, foraminifera, foraminiferan, foraminiferid, foraminiferon, (both obsolete, now nonstandard) foraminiferum

Usage notes

It has been suggested it is acceptable to use either foraminifer (plural foraminifers) or foraminifera (plural foraminifera or foraminiferas) as long as one form of the word and its plural(s) are used consistently throughout a text.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• foraminifera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Foraminifera on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Foraminifera on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• foraminifer at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

foraminifer +? -al

Adjective

foraminiferal (comparative more foraminiferal, superlative most foraminiferal)

1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling the foraminifers; foraminiferous