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Ordovician


Definition of Ordovician

adjective

Geology
  • relating to or denoting the second period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Cambrian and Silurian periods.
  • (as noun the Ordovician) the Ordovician period or the system of rocks deposited during it.

The Ordovician lasted from about 510 to 439 million years ago. It saw the diversification of many invertebrate groups and the appearance of the first vertebrates (jawless fish)

Origin:

late 19th century: from Ordovices, the Latin name of an ancient British tribe in North Wales, + -ian

Ordovician in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Ordovician in the US English dictionary