a. Geol. Also kainozoic, cænozoic. [f. Gr. καινό-ς recent + ζῷον animal + -IC. The analogical form would be cænozoic, as sometimes actually used; but caino- is favored by most authors as more evidently suggesting the derivation.]
Of or pertaining to the third of the great geological periods (also called TERTIARY), or to the remains or formations characteristic of it.
1854. Page, Introd. Text-bk. Geol., 39. Cainozoic Period (Recent Life).
1865. Lyell, Elem. Geol., 92. Some geologists … have introduced the term Cainozoic, for tertiary.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., xvii. 290. One great group known as the Tertiary or Cainozoic series.
