of or formed in the part of the Precambrian era, during which life first appeared
Eozoic in American English
(ˌiəˈzouɪk)
adjective
Geology(formerly)
noting or pertaining to the Precambrian Era, esp. the period including the beginnings of animal life
Word origin
[1875–80; eo- + zo- + -ic]This word is first recorded in the period 1875–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: authoritarian, fan-tan, graph, massage, musical chairs-ic is a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally inGreek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses“having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the basenoun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic)