Paleocene
adjective
Pa·leo·cene ˈpā-lē-ə-ˌsēn 
especially British
ˈpa- : of, relating to, or being the earliest epoch of the Tertiary or the corresponding series of rocks see Geologic Time Table
Paleocene noun
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French paléocène, from paléo- paleo- + -cène -cene
Note: Term introduced by the French (Alsatian) botanist Wilhelm Philippe Schimper (1808-80) in Traité de paléontologie végétale, tome 3 (Paris, 1874), p. 669 ff.
First Known Use
1877, in the meaning defined above