Forams

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Tiny marine protozoans with calcareous shells commonly found in fossil records; microscopic organisms living in ocean sediments; organic microfossils used in geological dating
2. Single-celled aquatic organisms characterized by complex shells of calcium carbonate; minute creatures inhabiting seas and contributing to sediment composition; fossilized remains important in paleontology and stratigraphy
3. Small shelled protists found mostly in marine environments; microscopic life forms contributing to marine ecosystems and sediment layers; their fossil forms serve as tools for studying Earth's past environments

Etymology: "Forams" is the plural of "foram", a clipped form of "foraminifer" (and its Latin-style plural "foraminifera"). The longer word is built from Latin "foramen", meaning a hole or opening, plus "-fer", meaning bearing or carrying, so a foraminifer is literally a "hole-bearer". The name refers to the tiny perforations in the shells of these organisms, through which they extend fine threads of cytoplasm for feeding and movement. Because the full scientific name is long, researchers and writers have long trimmed it to the short form, which is the one that appears in everyday speech about micropaleontology. The plural "forams" is therefore a simple English pluralization of that clipped noun, used for the group as a whole.

Synonyms: foraminifera, amoeboid protists