detritus

See also: détritus

English

Etymology

From Latin dētrītus (“(that which is) rubbed away”), from dēterō (“rub away”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈtɹaɪ.təs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtəs

Noun

detritus (usually uncountable, plural detritus or (rare) 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.
   • 2001, Chip Kidd, The Cheese Monkeys:

     But of course: no clutter. No newspapers, no renegade scraps of domestic detritus, no rubber bands, paper clips, coupons, pens or pencils, notebooks, magazines. No knives. Where were the knives?

   • 2022 September 7, Tom Allett, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 39:

     The cutting head removes any chips out of the railhead and restores the required surface shape. The trains also clear up their own detritus as they travel. Neither milling chips nor grinding dust remain on the track.

4. Rock consisting of accumulated debris from decayed rocks, like sand, that often is joined by cement.

Derived terms

• biodetritus
• detrital (adj)
• detritic (adj)
• detriticolous
• detritivore
• detritivorous
• detritophage
• detrivore
• microdetritus
• phytodetritus
• zoodetritus

 

Related terms

• detriment
• detrimental

 

Translations

geology: pieces of rock broken off

Chinese: Mandarin: 岩屑 (zh) (yán xiè) Galician: detrito (gl) m German: Detritus (de) m, Geröll (de) n, Gesteinschutt m Polish: detrytus (pl) m Russian: детри́т (ru) m (detrít) Swedish: detritus (sv) c

biology: organic waste material

Finnish: detritus (fi), karike (fi) Galician: detrito (gl) m German: Verwitterungsmaterial n, Mulm (de) m Hebrew: רָקָב (he) m (raqáv) Irish: turscar m Maori: toenga whakapopo, pōpopo Polish: detrytus (pl) m Russian: детри́т (ru) m (detrít) Swedish: detritus (sv)

debris or fragments of disintegrated material

Catalan: detritus (ca) m, detrit (ca) m Esperanto: rubo Finnish: detritus (fi) German: Überrest (de) m, Trümmer (de) f pl Latin: strāgēs f Russian: обломки (ru) pl (oblomki), осколки (ru) pl (oskolki) Swedish: detritus (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: afval (nl), puin (nl) French: détritus (fr) m Spanish: detrito (es) m

Further reading

• detritus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From dēterō (“rub away”), from dē (“away”) + terō (“rub”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /deːˈtriː.tus/, [d̪eːˈt̪riːt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /deˈtri.tus/, [d̪eˈt̪riːt̪us]

Participle

dētrītus (feminine dētrīta, neuter dētrītum); 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.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dētrītus	dētrīta	dētrītum		dētrītī	dētrītae	dētrīta
genitive	dētrītī	dētrītae	dētrītī		dētrītōrum	dētrītārum	dētrītōrum
dative	dētrītō	dētrītae	dētrītō		dētrītīs
accusative	dētrītum	dētrītam	dētrītum		dētrītōs	dētrītās	dētrīta
ablative	dētrītō	dētrītā	dētrītō		dētrītīs
vocative	dētrīte	dētrīta	dētrītum		dētrītī	dētrītae	dētrīta

Noun

dētrītus m (genitive dētrītūs); fourth declension

1. The act of rubbing away

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	dētrītus	dētrītūs
genitive	dētrītūs	dētrītuum
dative	dētrītuī	dētrītibus
accusative	dētrītum	dētrītūs
ablative	dētrītū	dētrītibus
vocative	dētrītus	dētrītūs

Related terms

• dēterō
• dētrīmentōsus
• dētrīmentum

Descendants

• English: detritus
• French: détritus
• Italian: detrito
• Portuguese: detrito
• Russian: детрит (detrit)
• Spanish: detrito
• Translingual: Orgyia detrita and more than 50 more accepted species

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

Borrowed from French détritus, from Latin detritus.

Noun

detritus n (uncountable)

1. detritus

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	detritus	detritusul
genitive-dative	detritus	detritusului
vocative	detritusule

Spanish

Alternative forms

• detrito

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dētrītus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deˈtɾitus/ [d̪eˈt̪ɾi.t̪us]
• Rhymes: -itus
• Syllabification: de‧tri‧tus

Noun

detritus m (plural detritus)

1. detritus

Derived terms

• detrítico

 

Further reading

• “detritus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10