Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
The principle that living organisms are produced only from other living organisms.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Biosynthesis.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the production of living organisms from other living organisms
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: biogeny
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: generation, multiplication, propagation
noun
production of a chemical compound by a living organism
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: biosynthesis
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: synthesis
History
From Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gweyh3- (“to live”)) + γένεσις (génesis, “origin, source; manner of birth; creation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh1tis (“birth; production”)). The words biogenesis and abiogenesis were both coined by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) in 1870 (see the quotation). The word biogenesis was first used by English physiologist and neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian (1837–1915) around 1869 to mean “life-origination or commencement” in an unpublished exchange of correspondence with Irish physicist John Tyndall. However, in an 1871 book, Bastian announced he was adopting a new term, archebiosis, because of the confusion that might be caused by Huxley’s use of biogenesis with a different meaning. Equivalent to bio- + genesis.
Across languages
15 source translations are retained for this English entry.
