Standard Lemma guide

ontogeny

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ɒnˈtɒdʒəni/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AA0 N T AA1 JH AH0 N IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of ontogenesis.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ontogenesis

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: growth, growing, maturation, development, ontogenesis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organic process, biological process

Narrower terms: culture, amelogenesis, angiogenesis, apposition, auxesis, blossoming, flowering, florescence, inflorescence, anthesis, efflorescence, cenogenesis, kenogenesis, caenogenesis, cainogenesis, kainogenesis, cohesion, cultivation, cytogenesis, cytogeny, foliation, leafing, fructification, gametogenesis, germination, sprouting, habit, infructescence, intussusception, juvenescence, life cycle, masculinization, masculinisation, virilization, virilisation, morphogenesis, myelinization, myelinisation, neurogenesis, palingenesis, recapitulation, proliferation, psychogenesis, psychomotor development, psychosexual development, rooting, suppression, teething, dentition, odontiasis, teratogenesis, vegetation

History

Etymology

From onto- + -geny, after German Ontogenie.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: ontogenie — Translations
  • French: ontogénie — Translations
  • German: Ontogenie — Translations
  • Romanian: ontogenie — Translations
  • Spanish: ontogenia — Translations