Precambrian

See also: Pre-Cambrian

English

Alternative forms

• Pre-Cambrian

Etymology

pre- +‎ Cambrian

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

Precambrian (not comparable)

1. (informal, geology) Relating to the time and geology dated before the Phanerozoic
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 209:

     When you look at a Precambrian trilobite in the lobby of a New York bank, it is difficult to speculate about its primeval environment.

Translations

before the Phanerozoic

• Catalan: precambrià
• Dutch: precambrisch
• Finnish: esikambrinen
• French: précambrien (fr) m
• German: präkambrisch
• Irish: Réamhchaimbriach
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prekambrisk

  Nynorsk: prekambrisk

• Occitan: precambrian
• Russian: докембри́йский (ru) (dokembríjskij)
• Welsh: Cyn-Gambriaidd

Proper noun

Precambrian

1. (geology) The Precambrian supereon; spanning from the formation of the Earth around 4.6 billion years ago to the emergence of hard-shelled creatures 541 million years ago.

Usage notes

• The International Commission on Stratigraphy, which attempts to standardize the vocabulary of the field, is revising the boundaries between time periods based on physical-science methods rather than the kinds of fossils present.
• The boundary between the Precambrian and the Phanerozoic has been changed from time to time and will be subject to change, as will the eons listed as Hyponyms below.

Synonyms

• (geological supereon): Cryptozoic (archaic)

Antonyms

• Phanerozoic

Hyponyms

• (geological supereon): Hadean, Archaean, Proterozoic - eons

Coordinate terms

• (geological supereon): Phanerozoic

Translations

eon before the Phanerozoic

• Catalan: precambrià m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前寒武紀／前寒武纪 (zh) (Qiánhánwǔ Jì)

• Danish: prækambrium n
• Dutch: precambrium (nl) n
• Finnish: prekambri
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Präkambrium (de) n
• Hungarian: prekambrium
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Low German:

  German Low German: Präkambrium n

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prekambrium n

  Nynorsk: prekambrium n

• Russian: Доке́мбрий m (Dokémbrij)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: prekambrium (sv) n
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: Cyn-Gambriaidd m