membrane

Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin membrāna (“skin or membrane that covers parts of the body”), from membrum (“a limb or member of the body”) + -āna. Doublet of membrana.

af

(anatomy, zootomy) A flexible enclosing or separating tissue forming a plane or film and separating two environments.

A mechanical, thin, flat flexible part that can deform or vibrate when excited by an external force.

Then they backed the membrane with a gel matrix containing a perfluorocarbon (PFC) propellant and fluorescent "nanobullets" about a micron wide, and hit it with ultrasound.

2016 January 14, Jessica Hall, “Nanoengineers build 'microcannons' that fire light-up bullets filled with drugs”, in ExtremeTech:

A flexible or semiflexible covering or waterproofing whose primary function is to exclude water.

(biology) A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.


incubus

From Late Latin incubus, from Latin incubō (“nightmare, one who lies down on the sleeper”), from incubō (“to lie upon, to hatch”, from in- (“on”) + cubō (“to lie down”)).

der

(entomology) One of various of parasitic insects, especially subfamily Aphidiinae.


jelly

en-noun

jelly (countable and uncountable, plural jellies)

→ Chickasaw: cheliꞌ, jellꞌ

→ Welsh: jeli, sieli

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gel-
Latin gelū
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin gelō
Proto-Italic *-ātos
Latin -ātus
Latin -āta
Early Medieval Latin gelātabor.
Old French geleebor.
Middle English gele
English jelly
From Middle English gele, borrowed from Old French gelee, borrowed from Early Medieval Latin gelāta, from Latin gelō + -āta. Doublet of gelee.

etymon

Species of the phylum Cnidaria – the classic jelly – have existed in something close to their current form for at least 565 million years; Ctenophora, the comb jellies, are not much younger.

2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:


rescue

en-verb

rescue (third-person singular simple present rescues, present participle rescuing, simple past and past participle rescued)

rescues (present singular third-person)
rescuing (participle present)
rescued (participle past)
rescued (past)

From Middle English rescouen, from Old French rescoure, rescurre, rescorre; from Latin prefix re- (“re-”) + excutere (“to shake or drive out”), from ex (“out”) + quatiō (“I shake”).

ontzetten

to deliver by arms, notably from a siege

Mecp2^(R255X/+) [mice] developed an overweight body weight phenotype by 10 weeks age and increased liver and heart weight by 8 months age. Abnormal body, liver and heart weight in Mecp2^(R255X/+) was rescued by MECP2ᵀᵍ¹ allele.

2015, Meagan R. Pitcher et al., “Rett syndrome like phenotypes in the R255X Mecp2 mutant mouse are rescued by MECP2 transgene”, in Human Molecular Genetics, volume 24, number 9, →DOI, page 2664:

(biology, genetics) To restore a particular trait in an organism that was lost or altered, especially where this loss was as the consequence of some experimental manipulation.


development

en-noun

development (countable and uncountable, plural developments)

developments (plural)
developement (alternative)

From French développement, from Old French desvelopemens (“unrolling”). By surface analysis, develop + -ment. First attested in 1756.

The organism has reached a crucial stage in its development.

Of more significance in the nature of branch development; in the Jubulaceae, as in the Porellaceae, branches are acroscopic and normally replace a ventral leaf lobe.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 5:

(uncountable, biology) The process by which a mature multicellular organism or part of an organism is produced by the addition of new cells.


pluma

Borrowed from Latin plūma. Doublet of plume.


luna

Borrowed from Latin lūna (“moon; month; crescent”).

“Gee,” whispered Oliver. He sat there staring. “A luna! I never thought I’d see a real luna!”

1944, Elizabeth Enright, Then There Were Five, Farrar & Rinehart, page 80:

On the previous evening we had discovered with delight a luna with the fabulous moons, one on each pale green wing.

1969, Sterling North, “An Introduction to Butterflies and Moths”, in Boys’ Life, May 1969 issue, Boy Scouts of America, page 64

Spray BT on your young oak to protect against gypsy moths, and you wipe out future lunas, cecropias, and everything else on the leaves, along with the pests.

2010, Sally Roth (contributor), in Judy Pray (compiler), Garden Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Plant, Grow, and Harvest, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., page 348

(entomology) A luna moth: a member of species Actias luna.


den

en-verb

den (third-person singular simple present dens, present participle denning, simple past and past participle denned)

dens (present singular third-person)
denning (participle present)
denned (participle past)
denned (past)

From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).

cog

Although present in virtually all habitats, it preferred to den in caves, so its distribution, especially in cold, northern areas, may have been limited to limestone and other rocky regions where caves form.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 203:

“Denning” – behaviour around making dens – has changed and bears are swimming long distances, but, says Aars, there is still enough sea ice in the spring for the bears to hunt successfully.

2023 August 30, Patrick Greenfield, “Why it may be time to stop using the polar bear as a symbol of the climate crisis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(intransitive, zoology) Of an animal, to use as a den; to take up residence in.


pagina

Learned borrowing from Latin pāgina. Doublet of page.

(botany) The surface of a leaf or of a flattened thallus.


lingua

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lingua (“the tongue”). Doublet of langue and tongue.

ubor

(entomology) A median process of the labium, at the underside of the mouth in insects, and serving as a tongue.


labium

Learned borrowing from Latin labium (“a lip”). Doublet of lip.

lbor

(entomology) A lower mouthpart of an insect that is formed by the second pair of maxillae united in the middle line.

(zoology) A liplike part of various invertebrates.


nympha

From Latin nympha, from Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride, nymph”). Doublet of nymph.


nymph

nymphs (plural)
nymphae (plural)
nymphe (alternative archaic rare)

From Middle English nimphe, from Old English nymphē and Old French nimphe, both from Latin nympha (“nymph, bride”), from Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride”). Doublet of nympha.

(entomology) The larva of certain insects.

(entomology) Any of various butterflies of the family Nymphalidae.


snare

From Middle English snare, from Old English snearu (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.

inh

(veterinary) A loop of cord used in obstetric cases, to hold or to pull a fetus from the mother animal.


lire

From Old Norse líri. Cognate with Norwegian lira.

(UK dialectal, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, ornithology) The Manx shearwater (bird).


Sleeping Beauty

en-proper noun

Sleeping Beauty (plural Sleeping Beauties)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Sleeping Beauty.wav

In the genetics sense, so called because the transposon was brought back to activity from a long evolutionary sleep.

(genetics) A transposon used in genetic engineering.


acumen

en-noun

acumen (usually uncountable, plural acumens or acumina)

Borrowed from Latin acūmen (“sharp point”).

The black star of the corolla, characteristic of the original form, the manyfloweredness of the inflorescence (often connected with [3]—4 whirls), upper leaves in the inflorescence, adpression of the acumina of the calyx, its size, the closely situated anthers, long pistils, the length of the pedicel above and below the articulation and the thickness of the pedicel dominate.

11. S. boyacense. Resembles S. Rybinii from which it is distinguished by the greater dissection of the leaves, the longer calyx acumens, smaller anthers and coloured corolla.

1956, S.M. Bukasov, Translation of THEORETICAL BASES OF PLAN BREEDING, page 6:

Finally, the acumina of all the narrowly lanceolate leaves of both species tend to be straight rather than curved.

1960, Svensk botanisk tidskrift, page 385:

Herbs with long creeping stolons; leaves with coarse white hairs, or glabrous. The arched corolla lobes and large acumens give the corolla a circular appearance with acumens standing out sharply from it. Corolla occasionally, however, substellate.

1978, chapter 2, in The Potato Crop: The scientific basis for improvement, →ISBN, page 30:

[…] the stem leaves lack recurved serrations on the margins, the acumina of the branch leaves are usually distinctly dentate.

1986, The Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory, page 449:

In our opinion, specimens of I. pilifera represent a robust expression of I. sinensis with many stem and branch leaves becoming strongly concave and broadly ovate to obovate in outline, thereby intensifying the abrupt contraction of the pilaferous acumens. It is best accepted as a variety of N. comes. The length of leaf acumens is another variable character expressed by Barbella amoena. Thus, it is also better combined with the var. pilifera as a synonym.

1990, Cryptogamic Botany, Volume 2, page 315:

They examined the characters that were used by Paris (1908) to distinguish C. japonicum Broth. ex Paris from C. tonkinense: “Les charactères invoqués par Paris [Rev. Bryol., p. 46, 1908) pour distinguer la plante du Tonkin de celle du Japon s’évanouissent à l’examen, …”, and stated that the acumina of the leaves are narrower, and that those of the amphigastria are narrower and longer in C. japonicum Broth. ex Paris than in C. tonkinense.

(botany) A sharp, tapering point extending from a plant.


imp

en-verb

imp (third-person singular simple present imps, present participle imping, simple past and past participle imped)

imps (present singular third-person)
imping (participle present)
imped (participle past)
imped (past)

From Middle English impen, ympen (“to plant; (figuratively) to bury; to graft; to add to, insert, put into, set in; to mend (a falcon’s feather) by attaching a new feather on to the broken stump”), from Old English impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”), from Proto-West Germanic *impōn (“to graft”), from Vulgar Latin *imputō (“to graft”), from Ancient Greek ἔμφῠτος (émphŭtos, “implanted; planted”), from ἐμφῠ́ω (emphŭ́ō, “to implant”, from ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in’) + φῠ́ω (phŭ́ō, “to bring forth, produce; to grow”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to become; to grow”))) + -τος (-tos).

af

ultimately from Proto-Indo-European <i class="Latn mention" lang="ine-pro">*bʰuH-</i> (“to appear; to become; to grow”)

I have known feathers so imped that the eye could not discern the place of juncture, and it was difficult even to discover it by passing the thumb-nail down the shaft of the imped feather.

1900, E[dward] B[lair] Michell, “Accidents and Maladies”, in The Art and Practice of Hawking, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 229:

Bird rehabilitators borrow a trick from falconry with the age-old process of imping flight feathers on to a damaged bird.

2004, Roseann Tomko, Illinois Audubon, Wayne, Ill.: Illinois Audubon Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 1:

[page 246, column 1] Feather damage is a serious problem for any bird. […] Repairing or imping broken feathers is a very good option in these cases and may save months or even a year in captivity. […] [page 250, column 1] Note that a feather can usually only be imped once since it is very difficult or impossible to remove and then replace an imping needle from within a feather shaft after it has been glued in place.

2016, David E. Scott, “Feathers and Aging”, in Raptor Medicine, Surgery and Rehabilitation, 2nd edition, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Boston, Mass.: CABI, →ISBN, pages 246 and 250:

(falconry, veterinary medicine) To engraft (a feather) on to a broken feather in a bird's wing or tail to repair it; to engraft (feathers) on to a bird, or a bird's wing or tail.


stale

stales (plural)
stele (alternative)
steal (alternative)
stele (alternative)
steel (alternative)
stail (alternative)

From Middle English stale, from Old English stalu, from Proto-Germanic *stal-; compare English stell from this root. The development was paralleled by the ablaut which became English steal, from Middle English stele, from Old English stela, from Proto-Germanic *stel-. Both are from the same Proto-Indo-European root *stel-, *stol- (“to place, establish”), whence also Ancient Greek στελεός (steleós, “handle”). See also English stele.

haft

grip of tools, generally, and especially of axes


escape

en-noun

escape (countable and uncountable, plural escapes)

From Middle English escapen, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French escaper ( = Old French eschaper, modern French échapper), from Vulgar Latin *excappāre (“to escape a garment, get out of one's clothing”, literally “to free oneself from one's cape”), from Latin ex- (“out”) + Late Latin cappa (“cape, cloak”). Cognate with escapade. Also doublet of scape.

der

(botany) A cultivated plant found growing as though wild, dispersed by some agency.


admiral

admirals (plural)
Admiral (alternative)
Adm. (alternative)
Adm (alternative)
adml. (alternative)
ADM (alternative)
admyralle (alternative)
amyrall (alternative)
admarall (alternative)
admerell (alternative)
admerolle (alternative)
admirell (alternative)
admyrell (alternative)
amerall (alternative)
ammyrall (alternative)
amral (alternative)
amrell (alternative)
amrelle (alternative)
admirail (alternative)
admiralle (alternative)
admyral (alternative)
admyrall (alternative)
amiral (alternative)
amirall (alternative)
ammiral (alternative)
admeral (alternative)
admerall (alternative)
ammirall (alternative)
admirant (alternative)
amrall (alternative)
ammirant (alternative)
admirall (alternative)
admirante (alternative)
admirel (alternative)

→ Cebuano: admiral

desctree

→ German: Admiral
→ Czech: admirál
Hungarian: admirális
→ Polish: admirał
→ Slovene: admirȃl
→ Ukrainian: адміра́л (admirál)

Swahili: admirali

→ Tagalog: ádmirál

Amir_al-umara#In_Norman_Sicily
Chester Nimitz
Eighth Crusade
Florent de Varennes
George of Antioch
Gervase Alard
Horatio Nelson
Louis IX
Nelson's Column
Norman Sicily
admiral
admiral of France

From Middle English admiral etc., from Anglo-Norman and Old French admiral etc., from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus, and admiralius, from irregular modification of amiralis etc. under the influence of the prefix ad- and particularly admiror (“to admire, respect”), from Arabic أَمِير (ʔamīr, “commander”) + -alis (“-al”). The ending is frequently but mistakenly folk etymologized to derive from the article ال (al-), particularly in Arabic أَمِير اَلبَحْر (ʔamīr al-baḥr, “commander of the sea”), first attested as a Fatimid office, or in Arabic أَمِير الْمُؤْمِنِين (ʔamīr al-muʔminīn, “Commander of the Believers, caliph”). It seems instead to have been borrowed from modification of only the first term in Arabic أَمِير الْأُمَرَاء (ʔamīr al-ʔumarāʔ, “emir of emirs, commander-in-chief”) as used as a title for important commanders in Norman Sicily in the mid-12th century. First attested as an English rank in reference to Gervase Alard of Winchelsea as "admiral of the fleet of the Cinque Ports". Doublet of emir, amir, Amir, and amira.
Etymology tree
Middle English admiral
English admiral

cog

أَمِير اَلبَحْر

أَمِير الْمُؤْمِنِين

der

أَمِير الْأُمَرَاء

etymon

(zoology) Any of several species of nymphalid butterflies of the genera Kaniska, Limenitis and Vanessa.

(conchology) The shell of the Conus ammiralis; the cone shells of various other species displaying similarly intricate banding.

(botany, obsolete) Any of several varieties of pear, the trees which produce them.


tripod

en-verb

tripod (third-person singular simple present tripods, present participle tripoding, simple past and past participle tripoded)

tripods (present singular third-person)
tripoding (participle present)
tripoded (participle past)
tripoded (past)

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Latin tripūs, tripodis, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); equivalent to tri- + -pod. Doublet of tripus and teapoy.

(entomology, intransitive) Of a lizard, to raise its body upright bracing itself on hind legs and tail.


pollen

en-noun

pollen (usually uncountable, plural pollens)

From Latin pollen (“fine flour”). Used by Linnaeus in the 18th century to describe the spores produced in the anthers of flowers.

In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

2013 May–June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

(botany) Pollen grains (microspores) produced in the anthers of flowering plants.


stratification

stratification (countable and uncountable, plural stratifications)

(ecology) The vertical layering of vegetation in a forest.


pulse

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pous, pouse (“regular beat of arteries, pulse; heartbeat; place on the body where a pulse is detectable; beat (of a musical instrument); energy, vitality”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman puls, pous, pus, and Middle French pouls, poulz, pous [and other forms], Old French pous, pulz (“regular beat of arteries; place on the body where a pulse is detectable”) (modern French pouls), and from their etymon Latin pulsus (“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”), from pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”)) + -sus (a variant of -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).

nb...

pouce, pounce, pouns, pounse, pousse, pouz, puls

der

(chiefly biology, chemistry) An (increased) amount of a substance (such as a drug or an isotopic label) given over a short time.

импулс

(increased) amount of a substance given over a short time


pulse

en-verb

pulse (third-person singular simple present pulses, present participle pulsing, simple past and past participle pulsed)

pulses (present singular third-person)
pulsing (participle present)
pulsed (participle past)
pulsed (past)

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pulsen (“to pulse, throb”), from Latin pulsāre, the present active infinitive of pulsō (“to push; to beat, batter, hammer, strike; to knock on; to pulsate; (figuratively) to drive or urge on, impel; to move; to agitate, disquiet, disturb”), the frequentative of pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”); see further at etymology 1. Doublet of push.

inh

(transitive, chiefly biology, chemistry) To give to (something, especially a cell culture) an (increased) amount of a substance, such as a drug or an isotopic label, over a short time.


spear

Alteration of spire, from Middle English spyre, spier, spir, from Old English spīr (“stalk of a plant, shoot, blade”). More at spire.


bacteriophage

/bækˈtɪəɹ.ɪəʊˌfeɪd͡ʒ/

Borrowed from French bactériophage, coined by microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle, from bacterio- (“bacteria”) + -phage (“eater”).

af

Another possibility is to enlist a bacteriophage, a kind of virus, to hunt down and kill harmful bacteria for us.

2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 54:

(microbiology, virology) A virus that specifically infects bacteria.


phage

From Ancient Greek -φάγος (-phágos, “eater”), from φαγ- (phag-), aorist stem of ἐσθίω (esthíō), ἔδω (édō, “to eat, to consume”).

"The plural word phages refers to different types of phage, whereas in common usage the word phage can be both singular and plural, referring in the plural sense to particles of the same type of phage." Maloy et al: Microbial Genetics, 2nd ed., 1984, →ISBN, p. 81

(microbiology, virology) A virus that is parasitic on bacteria.


callus

en-noun

callus (countable and uncountable, plural calluses or calli)

Borrowed from Latin callum (“hard skin”). Displaced native Old English wearr.

(botany) The new formation over the end of a cutting, before it puts out rootlets.

الكالس النباتات

botany: new formation over the end of a cutting

(botany) In orchids, a fleshy outgrowth from the labellum.

(botany) In grasses, a hardened extension from the base of a floret, which may or may not elongate and is often covered in hairs or bristles.

(entomology) A shining area on the frons of many species of Tabanomorpha (horse flies and relatives).


agonize

en-verb

agonize (third-person singular simple present agonizes, present participle agonizing, simple past and past participle agonized)

agonizes (present singular third-person)
agonizing (participle present)
agonized (participle past)
agonized (past)
agonise (alternative)

From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony.

der

(transitive, biochemistry, pharmacology) To act as an agonist upon; to combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.


dyad

From Ancient Greek δυάς (duás), δυάδ- (duád-) from δύο (dúo, “two”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwó, *duwéh₃ (*dwóh₁). The mathematics sense was coined by American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs in 1884 in the second half of his book Elements of Vector Analysis.

чифт

pair of things standing in particular relation

(biology) A chromosome structure, usually X- or V-shaped, consisting of two condensed sister chromatids joined by a centromere.

(biology) A secondary unit of organisation consisting of an aggregate of monads.


cuticle

From Middle French cuticule, from Latin cuticula (“cuticle, skin”).

(zoology, botany) A noncellular protective covering outside the epidermis of many invertebrates and plants.


alliance

en-noun

alliance (countable and uncountable, plural alliances)

alliances (plural)
alliaunce (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance (French alliance). Equivalent to ally + -ance. Compare with Doric Greek ἁλία (halía, “assembly”).

alliance

union or connection of interests between families, states, parties, etc.

(taxonomy, dated) Synonym of cohort (“group of orders of organisms”).


ally

From Middle English allie, alie [and other forms], probably partly:
* from allien (verb): see etymology 1; and
* from Anglo-Norman allié, alié, alyé, allyé, Middle French allié, alié, allyé (“associate, supporter; friend; relative; person, state, etc., associated or united with another by alliance or treaty”), and Old French alliiet (“military or political ally”) (modern French allié), a noun use of the past participle of Anglo-Norman alier, allier, Middle French alier, allier, and Old French alier (verb): see etymology 1.

der

The order of Gruiformes includes cranes and their allies.

Procyonids (raccoons and their allies), a group of North American origin, are first recorded in South America in a level immediately below a unit dated at 6.0 million years.

1979, Larry G. Marshall et al., “Calibration of the Great American Interchange: A radioisotope chronology for Late Tertiary interchange of terrestrial faunas between the Americas.”, in Science, volume 204, number 4390, →DOI, pages 272–279:

Something regarded as connected with or related to another thing by similarity in features or nature.

(taxonomy) An organism which is related to another organism through common evolutionary origin; specifically, a species which is closely related to another species, usually within the same family.


alpine

From Latin Alpīnus, from Alpēs (“the Alps”). Cognates include French alpin.

There can be little doubt that the autumn-flowering gentians are the elite of late-flowering alpines, but alas they can only be enjoyed by those gardeners with an acid soil, unless they can be grown in containers.

1991, Jack Elliott, Alpines in the Open Garden, Christopher Helm, →ISBN, page 64:

(botany) Any of several plants, native to mountain habitats, often grown in rock gardens.


alternate

Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.

Many trees have alternate leaf arrangement (e.g. birch, oak and mulberry).

(botany, of leaves) Distributed singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence


migration

en-noun

migration (countable and uncountable, plural migrations)

From Middle French migration and its source, Latin migrātiō, from the participle stem of migrō (“I migrate”).
Morphologically migrate + -ion

(biochemistry) The movement of cells in particular directions to specific locations.


shark

shark (countable and uncountable, plural sharks)

sharks (plural)
sharke (alternative obsolete)

Shark meat
Thomas Beckington
shark
shark (moth)

From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English.
alternative theories
Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)acharus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name [shark] was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man".
Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xok (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, the 1442 use rules out a New World origin for the word.

shock (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

The straunge fishe is in length xvij. foote and iij. foote broad, and in compas about the bodie vj. foote; and is round snowted, short headdid, hauing iij. rankes of teeth on either iawe, …. Also it hath v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white. Ther is no proper name for it that I know, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a sharke.

1569, The true discripcion of this marueilous straunge Fishe, whiche was taken on Thursday was sennight, the xvi. day of June, this present month, in the yeare of our Lord God, M.D.lxix., a broadside printed in London, the second earliest known use of the term; reprinted in A Collection of Seventy-Nine Black-Letter Ballads and Broadsides: printed in the reigh of Queen Elizabeth, between the years 1559 and 1597 in 1867

He said he had spoken to a woman who was kayaking off Catalina Island, California, in 2008 when a shark slammed her kayak from underneath and sent her flying into the air. She then landed on the back of the shark, Collier said. "At that point the shark started to swim out to sea, so she jumped off its back," Collier said.

2011 October 13, AP, “Man 'surfs' great white shark”, in The Guardian:

(ichthyology, countable) Any scaleless, predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.


hardy

en-adj

hardy (comparative hardier, superlative hardiest)

hardier (comparative)
hardiest (superlative)

From Middle English hardy, hardi, from Old French hardi (“hardy, daring, stout, bold”).
Old French hardi is usually regarded as the past participle of hardir ("to harden, be bold, make bold"; compare Occitan ardir, Italian ardire), from Frankish *hardijan; but it may also have come directly from Frankish *hardi, a secondary form of Frankish *hard (compare Old High German harti, herti, secondary forms of Old High German hart (“hard”)); or even yet from Frankish *hardig (compare Middle Low German herdich (“persevering”), Old Danish hærdig, Norwegian herdig, Swedish härdig (“vigorous, courageous”)).
Cognate with hard. May have at some point also been surface analysed as hard + -y.

cog

A hardy plant is one that can withstand the extremes of climate, such as frost.

The oat is hardier than wheat, and ripens in higher latitudes.

1880, Arthur Herbert Church, Food: Some Account of Its Sources, Constituents and Uses, London: Chapman and Hall, page 72:

By watching where the snow melted first, I discovered warmer spots that I knew would be possible locations for late-winter bloomers or borderline hardy plants.

2012, David L. Culp, The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage, Timber Press, page 503:

(botany) Able to survive adverse growing conditions.


analogous

en-adj

analogous (comparative more analogous, superlative most analogous)

more analogous (comparative)
most analogous (superlative)

From Latin analogus, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́λογος (ănắlogos); Its English equivalent is analogue + -ous. The application to similar features of organisms is nearly as old as the general sense. Recognizably modern uses of the second sense, distinguishing analogous from homologous, appear in the mid-19th century.

(biology) Functionally similar, but arising through convergent evolution rather than being homologous.


gene

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). Coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen in 1909, in a German-language publication, from the last syllable of pangene.

coin

Near-synonym: cistron (often synonymous)

The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.

2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10:

(genetics) A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms which may take several values and (in principle) predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color.


inherit

en-verb

inherit (third-person singular simple present inherits, present participle inheriting, simple past and past participle inherited)

inherits (present singular third-person)
inheriting (participle present)
inherited (participle past)
inherited (past)

From Middle English enheriten, from Old French enheriter, from Late Latin inhereditare (“make heir”). Displaced native Old English ierfan.

وَرَثَ

to receive property or a title by legal succession etc.

Let's hope the baby inherits his mother's looks and his father's intelligence.

(transitive, biology) To receive a characteristic from one's ancestors by genetic transmission.

ժառանգել

to receive a characteristic by genetic transmission


variable

en-adj

variable (comparative more variable, superlative most variable)

more variable (comparative)
most variable (superlative)

Borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Old French variable, from Latin variare (“to change”), from varius (“different, various”). Equates to English vary + -able.

(biology) Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.

изменчив

biology: tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type


orthodox

orthodox (comparative more orthodox, superlative most orthodox)

more orthodox (comparative)
most orthodox (superlative)

From Late Middle English orthodoxe, from Middle French orthodoxe and its etymon Late Latin orthodoxus, from Ancient Greek ὀρθόδοξος (orthódoxos), from ὀρθός (orthós, “straight”) + δόξα (dóxa, “opinion”).

(botany) Of pollen, seed, or spores: viable for a long time; viable when dried to low moisture content.


ancestral

ancestrals (plural)
ancestrall (alternative)
auncestral (alternative)

From Anglo-Norman ancestrel, from ancestre (“ancestor”).

The intermediate nature of the gene frequencies of the populations in the two groupings to those of the putative ancestrals, Table 4, indicates the Mestizo gentic constitution of the MMA populations and supports previous information for this area (Garza-Chapa 1983b)

1987, Human Biology - Volume 59, Issues 1-3 - 4, page 44:

All the ancestrals with unknown origin or pedigree were included within this group.

1993, Jorge Enrique Autrique, Molecular Markers Applied to Wheat Improvement, page 33:

Some of the tequila ancestrals and añejos have a subdominant odor to them — the smoky, vanilla-like syringaldehyde that is also in coastal raicillas and bacanoras .

2023, Gary Paul Nabhan, David Suro Piñera, Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals:


genotype

/ˈdʒɛnəʊˌtaɪp/

/ˈd͡ʒɛnəˌtaɪp/

(genetics) The part (DNA sequence) of the genetic makeup of an organism which determines a specific characteristic (phenotype) of that organism.

genotip

DNA sequence which determines a specific characteristic


genotype

/ˈdʒɛnəʊˌtaɪp/

/ˈd͡ʒɛnəˌtaɪp/

(taxonomy, obsolete) The type species of a genus; generitype.


phenotype

From pheno- + -type. (Date to be specified). From Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to shine, to show, to appear”) and Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “mark, type”).

derived

(genetics, evolutionary theory) The appearance of an organism based on a multifactorial combination of genetic traits and environmental factors, especially used in pedigrees.

(genetics, evolutionary theory) Any observable characteristic of an organism, such as its morphological, developmental, biochemical or physiological properties, or its behavior.


torch

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”).
Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lămpắdă părădidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

sueo'

stick of wood, etc., with one end soaked in a flammable substance and set on fire; similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material

A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.

soihtu

Of this kinde, there is founde an other, the Spikes, eares, or torches wherof, are very dubble, ſo as in euery Spyky eare, in ſteede of the little knappes or heades, it bringeth forth a number of other ſmal torches, wherof eche one is lyke to the ſpike or torch of great Plantayne.

1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Plantayne or Waybrede”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Sundry Sortes of Herbes and Plantes), page 91:

A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.

[page 118] The white male Mulleyn (or rather Wolleyn) hath […] the whole top with his pleaſant yellow floures ſheweth like to a waxe Candell or taper cunningly wrought. […] [pages 119–120] Mulleyn is called […] in English alſo Tapſus barbatus, Mulleyne, or rather Wulleyn, Hig[h]taper, Torches, and Longworte: […]

1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Mulleyne⸝ or Hygtaper”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Sundry Sortes of Herbes and Plantes), pages 118–120:

Verbascum thapsus
Verbascum thapsus#Translingual

(chiefly in the plural) The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).

Cereus Peruuianus ſpinoſus L'Obelij. The torch, or thornie Euphorbium. […] [T]his plant, vvhich is called of the Indians in their mother toong Vragua, vvhich is as much to ſay, a torch, taper, or vvaxe candle, vvhereupon it hath been called in Latine of thoſe that vnderſtoode the Indian toong, Cereus, or a torch […] riſeth vp to the height of a ſpeare of 20. foote long, […]

1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Gummie Thistle Called Euphorbium”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 1015:

(obsolete) A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.


allele

Borrowed from German Allel, shortened from Allelomorph, from English allelomorph. Ultimately from the Ancient Greek prefix ἀλληλ- (allēl-) from ἄλλος (állos, “other”).

Genes are competing directly with their alleles for survival, since their alleles in the gene pool are rivals for their slot on the chromosomes of future generations. Any gene that behaves in such a way as to increase its own survival chances in the gene pool at the expense of its alleles will, by definition, tautologously, tend to survive.

1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 46:

Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

(genetics) One of a number of alternative forms of the same gene occupying a given position, or locus, on a chromosome.


heterozygous

(genetics) Of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene.

хетерозиготен

Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene


sessile

From Latin sessilis (“sitting”), from sessus, perfect passive participle of verb sedeō (“to sit”), + adjective suffix -ilis. Compare session.

a sessile oyster

(zoology) Permanently attached to a substrate; not free to move about.

The pileus is sessile, or sometimes narrowed at the base into a short stem, the caps often numerous and crowded together in an overlapping or imbricate manner.

1903, George Francis Atkinson, chapter VII, in Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc., 2nd edition, New York: Henry Holt:

The sporophyte foot is also characteristic: it is very broad and more or less lenticular or disciform, as broad or broader than the calyptra stalk[…], and is sessile on the calyptra base[…]

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 5:

(botany, oncology) Attached directly by the base; not having an intervening stalk; stalkless.


antagonistic

en-adj

antagonistic (comparative more antagonistic, superlative most antagonistic)

more antagonistic (comparative)
most antagonistic (superlative)

(biochemistry) Relating to an antagonist.


antipathy

en-noun

antipathy (countable and uncountable, plural antipathies)

PIE word
 *h₂énti
Borrowed from Middle French antipathie (“deep dislike; object of dislike; incompatibility between things”) (modern French antipathie (“dislike, antipathy”)), and from its etymon Latin antipathīa (“counteraction; natural aversion, antipathy”), from Ancient Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (antĭpátheiă, “suffering instead”), Koine Greek ἀντῐπάθειᾰ (antĭpátheiă, “contrary affection; contrast; counteraction; opposition”), from ἀντῐπᾰθής (antĭpăthḗs, “(adjective) felt mutually; in return for suffering; (noun) remedy for suffering”) (from ἀντι- (anti-, prefix meaning ‘against’) + πᾰ́θος (pắthos, “death; disaster; misfortune; pain; suffering; strong feeling, emotion, passion, pathos”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind; a bond”) or *kʷendʰ- (“to endure; to suffer”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming third-declension adjectives)) + -ειᾰ (-eiă, suffix forming feminine adjectives and nouns).

der

(botany) The quality of being antipathetic: not easily united by grafting.


fraternal

en-adj

fraternal (comparative more fraternal, superlative most fraternal)

more fraternal (comparative)
most fraternal (superlative)
fraternall (alternative)

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
Borrowed from Middle French fraternel, from Medieval Latin frāternālis (“fraternal”), from Latin frāternus (“of or pertaining to a brother, fraternal”), from frāter (“brother”).

der

Seventy percent of twins are fraternal and result from fertilization of two separate ova by two different sperm.

2012, Leonard Crowley, An Introduction to Human Disease: Pathology and Pathophysiology Correlations, page 471:

Because each egg and each sperm of a fraternal zygote contain slightly different genetic material, these two embryos do not have identical genetic makeups.

2012, James Luce, Chasing Davis: An Atheist's Guide to Morality Using Logic and Science:

The rate of natural fraternal embryo fusion is not well documented.

2015, Sheldon Krimsky, Stem Cell Dialogues: A Philosophical and Scientific Inquiry Into Medical Frontiers, page 120:

(genetics) Of twins or embryos, produced from two different eggs and sperm, and genetically distinct.

erimunainen

genetics: of twins or embryos, produced from two different eggs and sperm, and genetically distinct


adenine

en-noun

adenine (countable and uncountable, plural adenines)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-adenine.wav

From German Adenin, from Ancient Greek ἀδήν (adḗn, “gland”). By surface analysis, aden- + -ine. It was named in 1885 by the German biochemist Albrecht Kossel, in reference to the pancreas (a specific gland) from which Kossel's sample had been extracted.

One of these labels is ethenoadenine, which is obtained by chemical modification of adenine.

2002, Nikolai L. Vekshin, Photonics of Biopolymers, page 115:

There are two genes in the adenine biosynthetic pathway of yeast (ADE1 and ADE2) that, apart from producing an absolute requirement for adenine when mutant, also produce a change in colony color.

2006, David Markie, “1: Markers, Selection, and Media in Yeast Artificial Chromosome Cloning”, in Alasdair MacKenzie, editor, YAC Protocols, 2nd edition, page 2:

The HCN pentamer, adenine (a constituent of DNA, RNA and many coenzymes), is one of the most abundant biochemical molecules.

2010, Debjani Roy, Rogué Schleyer, “6: Chemical Origin of Life: How do Five HCN Molecules Combine to form Adenine under Prebiotic and Interstellar Conditions”, in Chérif F. Matta, editor, Quantum Biochemistry, page 202:

(biochemistry, genetics) A base, C₅H₅N₅, found in certain glands and tissues, which pairs with thymine in DNA and uracil in RNA.

nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate


thymine

thymine (countable and uncountable, plural thymines)

From thymus + -ine.
Thymine was first isolated in 1893 by Albrecht Kossel and Albert Neumann from calves' thymus glands, hence its name.

Then he found them, the substances that made up the four-letter alphabet in whose language all life is written — adenine and cytosine, guanine and thymine.

1997, Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, Vintage (1998), page 164:

In a recent paper on homopyrimidine decamers containing aeg-monomers and thymine monomers with a sulfomethyl substituent at the γ-position, similar triplexes has also been described [43 ].

2015 October 16, “Polyanionic Carboxyethyl Peptide Nucleic Acids ( ce -PNAs): Synthesis and DNA Binding”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(organic chemistry, genetics) A heterocyclic base, 5-methylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione; it pairs with adenine in DNA.

胸腺嘧啶

organic chemistry, genetics: heterocyclic base, 5-methylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione


cytosine

After German Cytosin, equivalent to Ancient Greek κύτος (kútos) + -ine. Cytosine was discovered and named by the German biochemists Albrecht Kossel and Albert Neumann in 1894 when it was hydrolyzed from calf thymus tissues.

(biochemistry) A heterocyclic base, 4-aminopyrimidin-2(1H)-one, which pairs with guanine in DNA and RNA (by means of three hydrogen bonds).


infanticide

infanticide (countable and uncountable, plural infanticides)

From French infanticide, from Latin īnfanticīdium. By surface analysis, infant + -i- + -cide.

surf

(zoology) The killing of a young, immature animal by a mature adult of the same species.


tone

From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

տոն

specific pitch, quality and duration; a note

(biology) The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.

(biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.


niche

Unadapted borrowing from French niche, from Middle French niche, from Old French niche, from nicher (“to make a nest”) (modern French nicher), from Vulgar Latin *nīdicāre, from Latin nīdus (“nest”). Doublet of nidus and nide via Latin and nest via Proto-Indo-European; also related to nyas.

(ecology) A function within an ecological system to which an organism is especially suited.


ornamental

en-adj

ornamental (comparative more ornamental, superlative most ornamental)

more ornamental (comparative)
most ornamental (superlative)

Those pine trees on the lawn are the fastest-growing ornamentals we could find.

(of a plant, fish, etc.) Bred for aesthetic or decorative purposes.

декоративен

bred for aesthetic or decorative purposes


ornament

en-noun

ornament (countable and uncountable, plural ornaments)

/ˈɔɹnəˌmɛnt/

From Middle English ornament, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum (“equipment, apparatus, furniture, trappings, adornment, embellishment”), from ornāre (“to equip, adorn”). The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(biology) A characteristic that has a decorative function (typically in order to attract a mate)


strap

en-noun

strap (countable and uncountable, plural straps)

straps (plural)
strop (alternative)
strope (alternative)

→ Japanese: ストラップ (sutorappu)

From a variant of earlier strope (“loop on a harness”), from Middle English strope, stroppe, from Late Old English strop, stropp (“a band, thong, strap; oar-thong”) and Old French estrope (“strap, loop on a harness”), both from Latin stroppus, struppus (“strap”), from Ancient Greek στρόφος (stróphos, “rope”) (compare strophe), from στρέφω (stréphō, “to twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *strebʰ- (compare Proto-West Germanic *stroppōn (“to twist, writhe”)). Cognate with Scots strap, strop (“strap, band, thong”), Dutch strop (“noose, strop, loop”), Low German Strop (“strap”), German Struppe, Strüppe, Strippe (“string, cord”), Danish strop (“strap”), Swedish stropp (“strap, loop”).

lak

a long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like

kawerapa

part of a bag that goes over the shoulder

ивица

a narrow strip of anything, as of iron or brass

(botany) The flat part of the corolla in ligulate florets, as those of the white circle in the daisy.

(botany) The leaf, exclusive of its sheath, in some grasses.


gland

Late 17th century borrowing from French glande, alteration of Old French glandre, from Latin glandulae (“throat glands, tonsils”), plural of glandula (“a little acorn”), from glāns (“an acorn”) + -ula (diminutive nominal suffix).

gjendër

organ that synthesizes and secretes substance

Meronyms: endocrine gland, exocrine gland

(zoology) A specialized cell, group of cells, or organ of endothelial origin in the human or animal body that synthesizes a chemical substance, such as hormones or breast milk, and releases it, often into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).

(anatomy) A structure resembling a gland, especially a lymph node.

(botany) A secretory structure on the surface of an organ.


anosmic

en-adj

anosmic (comparative more anosmic, superlative most anosmic)

more anosmic (comparative)
most anosmic (superlative)

The whales, porpoises and seals have however a reason that man does not possess for being anosmic. For they, in common with all the living world of earth and air, left the sea millions of years ago and, as they developed lungs with which to breathe, so did they modify their organs of smell to receive sensations from air, not water. Eons later, in comparatively recent geologic times, when these few mammals left the land and returned to the water, this differentiation for air-smelling had gone too far. Their senses of smell failed to react to water-borne stimuli. […] It is worth discussing these anosmic animals, and what caused them to lose the sense of smell.

1960, James Knox Millen, “chapter II”, in Your Nose Knows: A Study of the Sense of Smell, Los Angeles, Calif.: Cunningham Press, →OCLC, page 13:

Even in the totally anosmic whale without an olfactory nerve, bulb, or tract, it is noteworthy that the third-order neurons of the olfactory system still persist.

1978, R. Bruce Masterton, K. K. Glendenning, “Phylogeny of the Vertebrate Sensory Systems”, in R. Bruce Masterton, editor, Sensory Integration (Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology; 1), New York, N.Y.: Plenum Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 5:

Because dolphins are regarded as anosmic, because the animals usually swallow fish and other food whole without mastication, and because, until recently, taste buds had not been found in the tongue of several dolphin species, some cetologists have doubted that the animals possess the sense of taste.

1990, Sam H. Ridgway, “The Central Nervous System of the Bottlenose Dolphin”, in Stephen Leatherwood, Randall R. Reeves, editors, The Bottlenose Dolphin, San Diego, Calif., London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 85:

(zoology) Lacking olfactory organs; anosmatic.


scold

en-verb

scold (third-person singular simple present scolds, present participle scolding, simple past and past participle scolded)

scolds (present singular third-person)
scolding (participle present)
scolded (participle past)
scolded (past)

The noun is from Middle English scold(e), skald(e), first attested in the 12th or 13th century (as scold, scolde, skolde, skald). The verb is from Middle English scolden, first attested in the late 1300s. Most dictionaries derive the verb from the noun and say the noun is probably from Old Norse skald (“poet”) (cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”)), as skalds sometimes wrote insulting poems, though another view is that the Norse and English words are cognate to each other and to Old High German skeltan, Old Dutch skeldan, all inherited from Proto-Germanic *skeldaną (“scold”).

(ornithology) Of birds, to make harsh vocalisations in aggression.


GABA

[Valium] was followed by many imitators, all sharing the same pharmacological mechanism, which is to enhance the actions of the key inhibitory brain chemical messenger GABA.

2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 58:

Its action as an inhibitor also distinguishes GABA from the “big three” amines—dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin—which generally stimulate brain circuits.

2003, Samuel H. Barondes, chapter 4, in Better than Prozac, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 54:

gamma-aminobutyric acid
gamma-aminobutyric acid#English

(biochemistry) Acronym of gamma-aminobutyric acid.


UPS

en-noun

UPS (countable and uncountable, plural UPSes)

(biochemistry) Initialism of ubiquitin-proteasome system.


CAD

CAD (countable and uncountable, plural CADs)

(biochemistry) Initialism of caspase-activated DNase.


CCD

CCD (countable and uncountable, plural CCDs)

Charge-coupled device
Colony Collapse Disorder

colony collapse disorder
colony collapse disorder#English

(biology) Initialism of colony collapse disorder.


PAL

PAL (countable and uncountable, plural PALs)

phenylalanine ammonia lyase
phenylalanine ammonia lyase#English

(biochemistry) Initialism of phenylalanine ammonia lyase.


pileus

Borrowed from Latin pīleus, a form of pilleus (“a felt cap”).

Meronym: hymenium

The stem is easily separable from the pileus at its junction, in this respect being similar to Amanita, Amanitopsis, Lepiota and others.

One must check the size and shape of the pileus as well as its color. Many weird and unexpected shapes are found in the mushroom kingdom.

1994, Barry H. Rumack, David G. Spoerke, Handbook of Mushroom Poisoning: Diagnosis and Treatment, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 75:


binary

en-adj

binary (comparative more binary, superlative most binary)

more binary (comparative)
most binary (superlative)

From Late Latin bīnārius (“consisting of two”), from Latin bīnī (“two-by-two, pair”). By surface analysis, bin- + -ary.

двайко́вы

being in a state of one of two mutually exclusive conditions such as on or off

To further unpack trans and gender-diverse embodiment, requires one to unpack the depth of the discourse as it relates to both binary and non-binary people (Hofman, 2012). It necessitates deeper engagement as to the politics of passing, not passing, societal assimilation and non-assimilation.

2020, Liberty Matthyse, “Achieving gender equality by 2030: Transgender equality in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 5”, in Agenda, volume 34, number 1 (Gendered and Feminist Inequalities), →DOI, →ISSN, page 3:

(biology, sociology) Having or pertaining to a gender identity represented by the gender binary; either male or female.


exchange

en-noun

exchange (countable and uncountable, plural exchanges)

From Middle English eschaunge, borrowed from Anglo-Norman eschaunge, from Old French eschange (whence modern French échange), from the verb eschanger, from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō). Spelling later changed on the basis of ex-, with pronunciation following. By surface analysis, ex- + change.

(biochemistry) The transfer of substances or elements like gas, amino-acids, ions etc. sometimes through a surface like a membrane.


describe

en-verb

describe (third-person singular simple present describes, present participle describing, simple past and past participle described)

describes (present singular third-person)
describing (participle present)
described (participle past)
described (past)

[dɪˈskɹɑɪ̯b]

[dɪˈskɹɑɪ̯b]

From Middle English descriven, from Old French descrivre, from Latin dēscrībō (“I copy off, transcribe, sketch off, describe in painting or writing”), from dē (“off”) + scrībō (“write”); see scribe and shrive. Displaced native Old English āmearcian.

der

The fungus was first described by a botanist.

(transitive, taxonomy) To introduce a new taxon to science by explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other taxa.


description

en-noun

description (countable and uncountable, plural descriptions)

From Middle English descripcioun, from Old French description and its etymon, Latin dēscrīptiō, noun of action of dēscrībō (“I describe”).

The type description of the fungus was written by a botanist.

(taxonomy) A scientific documentation of a taxon for the purpose of introducing it to science.

kuvaus

taxonomy: scientific documentation of a taxon


uterus

→ Czech: uterus

→ Malay: uterus

→ Swahili: uterasi

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *úd
Proto-Indo-European *-teros
Proto-Indo-European *úderos
Latin uterusbor.
English uterus
From Latin uterus (“womb, belly”), from Proto-Indo-European *úderos (“abdomen, stomach”), from *úd (“out, outward”) + *-eros (contrastive suffix).

af

(anatomy, countable) A reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth.

(zoology) A similar part in some non-mammals.


pico-

Borrowed from Spanish pico (“beak, little bit, speck”)

bor

(biology) Used to designate sizes, especially, of cells, smaller than those prefixed by nano- or micro-; sized between 0.2 and 2.0 μm.


regulation

en-noun

regulation (countable and uncountable, plural regulations)

/ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/

(genetics) Mechanism controlling DNA transcription.


bisexuality

bisexuality (countable and uncountable, plural bisexualities)

1926, Dorothy E. Newton, The Bisexuality of Individual Strains of Coprinus Rostrupianus:

Recall from earlier in this paper that H. longicornis consists of obligatory bisexual diploid races (20+XX 0; 20+X) […] and variance is obscured because of the simultaneous variables of method of reproduction (bisexuality vs. thelytoky) and […]

1983, Entomological Society of America, Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America:

(chiefly botany) The state of being bisexual (“having both male and female parts or roles”).


bisexual

en-adj

bisexual (comparative more bisexual, superlative most bisexual)

more bisexual (comparative)
most bisexual (superlative)
bi-sexual (alternative)

Charles Gilbert Chaddock
Havelock Ellis
Otto Weininger
Palisot de Beauvois
Psychopathia Sexualis
Richard von Krafft-Ebing
Robert John Thornton

From bi- + -sexual, via the French bisexuel (bi-, sexuel). Attested since 1792 as a synonym in botany for "hermaphroditic" ("having male and female parts"). First used of sexuality in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis (in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof, due to the theory that people were naturally attracted to the opposite sex and so the brain or mind of a person attracted to "both" sexes (or to the same sex) must be partly of another sex and thus "hermaphroditic".

двухпо́лы

botany: having both male and female organs

(chiefly botany) Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.

(botany) Of flowers: having both pollen and seeds.

(botany) Of sporophytes: having both male and female organs.

(botany) Of gametophytes: producing both eggs and sperm.

(botany) Of fungi: producing both the "female" ascogonium and the "male" antheridium.

Midrash and Zohar present Adam as hermaphroditic or bisexual.

To say that Loki is bisexual means that he readily alternates between the male and female sexes, becoming female at will or as needed.

2004, Lois Bragg, Oedipus Borealis: The Aberrant Body in Old Icelandic Myth and Saga, →ISBN:

Among the arguments put forth for Ishtar's hermaphroditic or bisexual character is the practice of transvestism in religious rites associated with her (e.g. Harris 2000: 170; Groneberg 1986: 39).

2013, Zainab Bahrani, Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia, →ISBN:

(rare) Hermaphroditic/intersex, being both male and female, or alternating between being male and being female.

The bisexual name, such as Marion and Carol (and Evelyn and Vivian in England), is frequently a source of annoyance and embarrassment to the letter writer, who, if he does not know his ambiguously named correspondent personally […]

1947, Louise Pound, Kemp Malone, Arthur Garfield Kennedy, William Cabell Greet, American Speech:

At the desk, he completed the registration card, signing his name Jean Cable and giving a New York address. He did not know for sure that he was being pursued, but if so, he knew his pursuers would check new registrations around the city. The bisexual name would give them one more obstacle […]

1976, Frank V. Fowlkes, The Peruvian Contracts: A Novel, Putnam Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 128:

And although Stevens introduces Nanzia Nunzio as a woman, the inflections of the bisexual name and the symbolism implicit in the messenger's characteristics suggest that the "contemplated spouse" is something more than a woman.

Consider the identity play of the French artist who gave herself the bisexual name of Claude Cahun (1894–1954).

2003, Efrat Tseëlon, Masquerade and Identities: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Marginality, Routledge, →ISBN, page 59:

On August 16, in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Michael McConnell alone applied for a marriage license for himself and Baker, under his new adoptive name. The "bisexual name of Pat […]"

2005, Minnesota Law Review, volume 89, number 6, page 1762:

The Bionic Woman of the television serial of the seventies, though she wears ordinary dress most of the time, has the bisexual name of Jamie Summers.

2013, Marina Warner, Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 307:

It is probable, therefore, that hermaphroditism must be regarded as a variation from an earlier condition in which the sexes were separate, and that the hermaphrodites which occasionally appear in normally bisexual species are produced by variations occurring sporadically in the same direction.

1914, Leonard Doncaster, The Determination of Sex, page 120:

We also know that bisexual species reproduce during a longer period than hermaphrodite species.

1925, Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania. Zoological Laboratory, page 204:

The second line of inquiry has to do with the ultimate fate of unisexual species. Are they doomed to more rapid extinction than bisexual species? On the assumption that unisexual populations lack genetic variation, most theoretical studies […]

(chiefly biology) Having two distinct sexes, male and female (as contrasted with unisexual or hermaphroditic).

[…] where the parthenogenetic and bisexual generations do not differ in any character except their manner of reproduction[…]

1908, Science Progress in the Twentieth Century: A Quarterly Journal of Scientific Work & Thought, page 41:

But it does not agree with our idea of orthodox sexual reproduction, since many generations may pass without the appearance of males. The reproductive products at such times are purely feminine—that is, eggs which develop without having been fertilized by a male cell, the spermatozoan. We may distinguish this form of reproduction from sexual reproduction, in the restricted sense, or bisexual reproduction, as unisexual or parthenogenetic reproduction.

1913, Kammerer's Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution of 1912, in the Congressional Serial Set, page 425

[W]e began by noting the social advantages of bisexual reproduction, showing that bisexual beings are free and equal, and thus capable of entire community and fraternity. Thereafter, we treated the subject of bisexual reproduction more particularly: describing the ovatestis and its functions, showing how separate ovaries and testes were developed from the original ovatestes, and indicating the results of such differentiation, […]. Next, we considered asexual versus sexual reproduction: […]

1913, Francis H. Buzzacott, Mary Isabel Wymore, Bi-sexual Man: Or, Evolution of the Sexes, Life Science Inst, page 72:

(chiefly biology) Involving two sexes (particularly with regard to reproduction; contrast parthenogenetic or asexual).


bisexual

bisexuals (plural)
bi-sexual (alternative)

(botany, rare) A plant or fungus, or part thereof, which is bisexual.

The direct way to solve this dilemma is to study the inheritance of some specific features of genomic DNA of bisexual species by the genome of unisexual species . It seems possible to study this if the recent bisexuals resemble their ancestral […]

(chiefly biology) An organism (that is, a species) which has male and female sexes.


commodore

→ Italian: commodoro

→ Portuguese: comodoro

→ Spanish: comodoro

Borrowed from Dutch kommandeur, from Middle French commandeur. See command, compare commend (a doublet), and mandate.

(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Parasarpa.


septum

septa (plural)
septums (plural)
saeptum (alternative obsolete)
sæptum (alternative obsolete)

Borrowed from Latin sēptum (“enclosure, wall, fence”).

väliseinä

(zoology) transverse partition dividing the shell chambers of a mollusc or rhizopod

Deviated septum, a shift from the midline that commonly occurs in normal growth, is present in most adults.

2002, Springhouse, Illustrated Manual of Nursing Practice, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, page 1158:

Sally got a dagger hung from her septum
O'Malley cut his ears off, but wishes that he kept 'em

2008, Neil Cicierega, “Modify”, in View-Monster, performed by Lemon Demon:

(biology) A wall separating two cavities; a partition.

(anatomy) Ellipsis of nasal septum (“the cartilaginous center wall of the nose separating the two nostrils”).

nasal septum

(anatomy) Either of the two walls that separate the atria or ventricles of the heart into left and right chambers.

(botany) A partition that separates the cells of a fruit.

septe

(botany) partition separating the cells of a fruit

(mycology) A partition that separates the cells of a (septated) fungus.

väliseinä

(mycology) partition separating the cells of a fungus

(zoology) One of the radial calcareous plates of a coral.

väliseinä

(zoology) radial calcareous plate of a coral

(zoology) One of the transverse partitions dividing the shell of a mollusk, or of a rhizopod, into several chambers.

(zoology) One of the transverse partitions dividing the body cavity of an annelid.

väliseinä

(zoology) transverse partition dividing the body cavity of an annelid


zooplankton

en-noun

zooplankton (countable and uncountable, plural zooplanktons or zooplankton)

zooplanktons (plural)
zooplankton (plural)
zoöplankton (alternative dated rare)

(zoology) Free-floating small protozoa, crustaceans (such as krill), etc. and the eggs and larvae from larger animals.

dyreplankton

free-floating small protozoa or crustaceans


gum

gum (countable and uncountable, plural gums)

From Middle English gomme, gumme, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gome, from Late Latin gumma, from Latin cummi, gummi, from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi), from Egyptian qmy (“anointing oil”), qmyt (“acanthus resin, gum”). Cognate with Spanish goma (“rubber”). Doublet of gumma.

gum arabic

gum-oleo-resin

(botany, biochemistry, chiefly uncountable) A viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain plants that hardens when it becomes dry, or such a substance as a component of a plant exudate.

صَمْغ

sticky substance exuded by certain plants

խեժ

sticky substance resembling that exuded by certain plants


bunyip

The bunyip here was considered to have a magical power over humans, causing them considerable misfortune. Places where there were many eels tended to be where bunyips lived, as this was their food. On one occasion, Aboriginal people claimed that a bunyip lured a woman to her death by distracting her with a large catch of eels. It was considered extremely bad luck to kill or injure a bunyip.

2007, Janet Parker, Julie Stanton, editors, Mythology: Myths, Legends and Fantasies, page 387:

According to the stories, the Bunyip comes in many different shapes and sizes—some are covered in feathers, while others have scales like a crocodile. Most Aboriginal drawings show the Bunyip with a tail like a horse, and flippers and tusks like a walrus.

2008, Oliver Ho, Mysteries Unwrapped: Mutants & Monsters, page 26:

One particularly fierce bunyip described by Smith was well known as a man-eater throughout south Australia.

2009, David D. Gilmore, Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors, page 150:

(Australia, cryptozoology, mythology) A mythical Australian monster, said to inhabit swamps and lagoons.


median

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-median.wav

Borrowed from Middle French median, from Latin mediānus (“of or pertaining to the middle”, adjective), from medius (“middle”) (see medium), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”). Doublet of mean and mizzen. Cognate with Old English midde, middel (“middle”). More at middle.

der

Cellariiform, the orifices nearly confined to the convex frontal and lateral surfaces; the basal surface with a strong median calcareous keel, almost concealed by a flat membranous epitheca, which covers the whole zoarium […]

1957, Sidney Frederic Harmer, The Polyzoa of the Siboga Expedition, page 1106:

(anatomy, botany) In the middle of an organ, structure etc.; towards the median plane of an organ or limb.


over

From Middle English over, from Old English ofer, from Proto-West Germanic *obar, from Proto-Germanic *uber (“over”), from Proto-Indo-European *upér, related to *upó.
Akin to Scots ower, West Frisian oer, Dutch over, Low German over, över, German ober, über, Danish over, Norwegian over, Swedish över, Icelandic yfir, Faroese yvir, Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂 (ufar), Latin super, Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér), Albanian upri (“group of peasants”), Sanskrit उपरि (upári).
Doublet of uber, super, and hyper.

(botany) Of a flower: wilting or withering.

Finished; ended; concluded.
Of a flower: wilting or withering.


versatile

en-adj

versatile (comparative more versatile, superlative most versatile)

more versatile (comparative)
most versatile (superlative)

[ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪɫ]

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-versatile.wav

/ˈvɜː.səˌtɑɪl/

[ˈvɜː.səˌtɑɪɫ]

From Latin versātilis (“turning easily”), from versātus, past participle of versō (“I turn, change”), frequentative of vertō (“I turn”).

The versatile anther is an important step up in flowering plant evolution and it may be the most widespread of all simple anther types.

1996, William G. D'Arcy, edited by William G. D'Arcy and Richard C. Keating, The anther: form, function, and phylogeny:

(biology) Capable of moving freely in all directions.

wendbaar

biology: capable of moving freely in all directions


YBP

Baked clay ornaments and other objects dating from 28,000 YBP have been discovered in Eastern Europe, […]

2022, Cherl-Ho Lee, Korean Food and Foodways: The Root of Health Functional Food, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology, geology, paleontology) Initialism of years before present.


inversion

en-noun

inversion (countable and uncountable, plural inversions)

/ɪnˈvɜː.ʃən/

(genetics) A segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome.

(biochemistry) The catalytic action of invertase.


conjugate

en-verb

conjugate (third-person singular simple present conjugates, present participle conjugating, simple past and past participle conjugated)

conjugates (present singular third-person)
conjugating (participle present)
conjugated (participle past)
conjugated (past)

/ˈkɔn.d͡ʒə.ɡæɪt/

The adjective (as “combined, united”) and noun are first attested in 1471, in Middle English, the verb in 1530; partly from Middle English conjugat(e) (“combined, united”), partly directly borrowed from New Latin coniugātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin coniugō (“to yoke together, combine; (New Latin) to conjugate, decline, inflect”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from con- (“with”) + iugō (“to join”). In Classical Latin, the word for conjugate (grammar) was dēclīnō, coniugō is a later back-formation from post-classical coniugātiō (“conjugation, declension”).

der

(biology, of bacteria and algae) To temporarily fuse, exchanging or transferring DNA.


conjugation

en-noun

conjugation (countable and uncountable, plural conjugations)

/ˌkɒnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/

/ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/

Borrowed from Latin coniugātiō (“combining, connecting; conjugation”), from coniugō (“join, unite together”). Equivalent to conjugate + -ion.

bor

(biology) The temporary fusion of organisms, especially as part of sexual reproduction


soup

en-noun

soup (countable and uncountable, plural soups)

soups (plural)
soop (alternative obsolete)

→ Tamil: சூப் (cūp)

→ Thai: ซุป (súp)

Wikiquote
The noun is from Middle English soupe, sowpe, from Old French soupe, souppe, sope, from Late Latin suppa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Middle Dutch sope (“broth”)). Doublet of sop and zuppa. See also sup and supper.
The verb is from the noun.

primordial soup

(figuratively) Any mixture or substance suggestive of soup consistency.

(biology) A liquid or gelatinous substrate, especially the mixture of organic compounds that is believed to have played a role in the origin of life on Earth.


inverse

Recorded since 1440, from Latin inversus, the past participle of invertere (“to invert”), itself from in- (“in, on”) + vertere (“to turn”).

(botany) Inverted; having a position or mode of attachment the reverse of that which is usual.


glider

From Middle English glider, glydare, equivalent to glide + -er.

(entomology) Any of various species of dragonfly that glide on out-held wings while flying, such as the common glider, Tramea loewii, of Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Pacific.


RNA

RNA (countable and uncountable, plural RNAs)

Looked at from RNA’s point of view, DNA is just a passive archive of information, a dull hunk of a telephone directory; it is RNA that looks up the numbers, establishes the connections and determines how long each call will last.

2006 June 20, Nicholas Wade, “DNA or RNA? Versatile Player Takes a Leading Role in Molecular Research”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

ribonucleic acid
ribonucleic acid#English

(biochemistry) Initialism of ribonucleic acid.

РНК

рибонуклеинова киселина (ribonukleinova kiselina)

РНК

рибонуклеинска киселина f (ribonukleinska kiselina)

РНК

рибонуклеи́новая кислота́ (ribonukleínovaja kislotá)


LSD

LSD (countable and uncountable, plural LSDs)

lumpy skin disease
lumpy skin disease#English

(veterinary pathology) Initialism of lumpy skin disease.


germ

→ Tok Pisin: jem

From Middle French germe, from Latin germen (“bud, seed, embryo”). Doublet of germen.

(biology) The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.

The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.

surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth

en:biology, general
en:biology, body part

(biology) The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.


minim

(zoology) The smallest kind of worker in a leaf-cutter ant colony.


trigon

trigon (countable and uncountable, plural trigons)

From Ancient Greek τρίγωνον (trígōnon, “triangle”), neuter substantive of τρίγωνος (trígōnos, “three-sided”), from τρεῖς (treîs, “three”) + γωνία (gōnía, “bend, angle”). Equivalent to tri- + -gon. Doublet of trigone and trigonon.

der

(countable, zoology) The cusp (cutting region) of the crown of an upper molar, usually the anterior part.


period

periods (plural)
per. (alternative abbreviation)

frequency

antonym(s) of “length of time of recurrence of a periodic phenomenon”

/ˈpɪə.ɹɪ.əd/

From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, orbit, a recurring interval of time, path around”), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Displaced native Middle English tide (“interval, period, season”), from Old English tīd (“time, period, season”), as well as Middle English elde (“age, period”), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time”).

periudhë

history: period of time seen as coherent entity

periodike

length of time during which something repeats

Polyclonal antibodies were prepared against the period gene product, which influences biological rhythms in D. melanogaster, by using small synthetic peptides from the per sequence as immunogens.

1988 April 1, “Antibodies to the period gene product of drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system”, in Neuron, volume 1, number 2, page 141:

(genetics) A Drosophila gene, the gene product of which is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm.


coma

Borrowed from Latin coma (“hair of the head”), from Ancient Greek κόμη (kómē, “hair”).

(botany) A tuft or bunch, such as the assemblage of branches forming the head of a tree, a cluster of bracts when empty and terminating the inflorescence of a plant, or a tuft of long hairs on certain seeds.


single

From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness

(botany) Having only one rank or row of petals.

enkel

botany: having only one rank or row of petal


mucus

en-noun

mucus (usually uncountable, plural mucuses or muci)


loma

(zoology) A lobe, flap or fringe bordering the toe of a bird.


xylose

xylose (countable and uncountable, plural xyloses)

(biochemistry) One of the pentoses, C₅H₁₀O₅, a white crystalline sugar, derived from wood.

древе́сный са́хар m (drevésnyj sáxar, literally “wood sugar”)

деревни́й цу́кор m (derevnýj cúkor, literally “wood sugar”)


runner

From Middle English rennere, rynner, urnare, equivalent to run + -er. Cognate with Old Norse rennari (“runner; messenger”). Displaced earlier Middle English runel (“runner”), from Old English rynel (“runner”; also “messenger, courier”).

vrapues

somebody who runs, who moves at a fast pace

махови́к

mechanical part intended to guide or aid something else to move

(botany) A long stolon sent out by a plant (such as strawberry), in order to root new plantlets, or a plant that propagates by using such runners.


expressivity

expressivity (usually uncountable, plural expressivities)

(genetics) The degree to which a gene affects or can affect an organism.


express

en-verb

express (third-person singular simple present expresses, present participle expressing, simple past and past participle expressed)

expresses (present singular third-person)
expressing (participle present)
expressed (participle past)
expressed (past)

From Old French espresser, expresser, from frequentative form of Latin exprimere.

(biochemistry) To translate messenger RNA into protein.

When a cell “expresses” a gene, it translates the DNA first into a signature messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence and subsequently into a chain of amino acids that forms a protein.

2015, Ferris Jabr, How Humans Ended Up With Freakishly Huge Brains Wired:

deoxyribonucleic acid
deoxyribonucleic acid

(biochemistry) To transcribe deoxyribonucleic acid into messenger RNA.


PSP

en-noun

PSP (countable and uncountable, plural PSPs)

(biochemistry, organic chemistry) Initialism of phenolsulfonphthalein.


epi-

From Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí, “on top of”).

epichromosomal

epiclone

epigenome

epiparasitism

episymbiont

episymbiotic

(zoology) Epibiotic: an organism that lives on another organism.

epizootic

epornitic


radical

en-adj

radical (comparative more radical, superlative most radical)

more radical (comparative)
most radical (superlative)

derivative

antonym(s) of “linguistics, in reference to words”

PIE word
 *wréh₂ds
Inherited from Middle English radical, from Latin rādīcālis (“of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical”).

der

(botany, not comparable) Pertaining to a root (of a plant).


-gamy

(biology) Used to form nouns describing forms of fertilization, pollination or reproduction.


ex-

unhyphened with primary or secondary stress

From Middle English, from words borrowed from Middle French; from Latin ex (“out of, from”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵ-, *eǵs- (“out”), *eǵʰs. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of, from”), Transalpine Gaulish ex- (“out”), Old Irish ess- (“out”), Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ, “out”), Russian из (iz, “from, out of”).

excaudate, exstipulate


counterpart

From Middle English conterpart, countre parte (“duplicate of a legal document”), equivalent to counter- + part. Compare Old French contrepartie, itself from contre (“facing, opposite”) (from Latin contra (“against”)) + partie (“copy of a person or thing”) (originally past participle of partīre (“to divide”)).

(paleontology) Either half of a flattened fossil when the rock has split along the plane of the fossil.


corn

Inherited from Middle English corne, from Old French corn (modern French cor), from Latin cornū. Doublet of corno, cornu, and horn.

(veterinary medicine) An inflammatory disease of a horse's hoof, at the caudal part of the sole.

(veterinary medicine) Skin hyperplasia with underlying fibroma between both digits of cattle.


colony

Tok Pisin: koloni

→ Tokelauan: kolone

From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.

ant colony; coral colony

a colony of specialized polyps and medusoids

(biology) A group of organisms of same or different species living together in close association.


complement

en-noun

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

From Middle English complement, from Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment. The verb is from the noun.

der

(palaeography, phonetics) A phonetic complement is a graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of its reading (as opposed to an adjunct that abbreviates an adjective that modifies that logogram).

A DNA molecule is formed from two strands, each of which is the complement of the other.

(genetics) A nucleotide sequence in which each base is replaced by the complementary base of the given sequence: adenine (A) by thymine (T) or uracil (U), cytosine (C) by guanine (G), and vice versa.

после́довательность комплемента́рных основа́ний


chromatic

From chromatin + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns).

suffix

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-chromatic.wav

Each nucleus has, then, (1) a protoplasmic body, and (2) a portion formed of nuclein, which is the chromatin of [Walther] Flemming. […] The chromatic reticulum of Flemming is only an appearance due to the regular crossing of its convolutions, rarely to their temporary union.

1887 December 14, John Gray M‘Kendrick [i.e., John Gray McKendrick], “IV.—On the Modern Cell Theory, and the Phenomena of Fecundation.”, in Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, volume XIX, Glasgow: Published for the [Philosophical] Society [of Glasgow] by John Smith and Son, […], published 1888, →OCLC, page 84:

The chromatic threads next arrange themselves in the equatorial plane of the nucleus, and then divide into two groups of threads, each of which forms a daughter nucleus.

1889 September, Harold W[illiam] T[aylor] Wager, “4. Observations on the Structure of the Nuclei in Peronospora, and on Their Behaviour during the Formation of the Oosphere.”, in Report of the Fifty-ninth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in September 1889, London: John Murray, […], published 1890, →OCLC, section D ([Transactions of the Biology Section]), page 619:

Prof. [Sydney Howard] Vines also attacks my view of the idioplasmatic nature of the nuclear substance (the chromatic grains); and maintains that it is as easy to speak of the continuity of the cell-body as of that of the nuclear substance, and that the one may transmit heritable qualities to progeny as well as the other.

1890 February 6, [August] Weismann, “Prof. Weismann’s Theory of Heredity”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume XLI, number 1058, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 320, column 2:

If we are amazed at the precision with which the chromatic elements of the nucleus are divided and distributed, we can be no less astonished at the wonderful directive influence exercised by the asters upon the nuclei; […]

1893, E[dwin] G[rant] Conklin, “Second Lecture. The Fertilization of the Ovum.”, in Biological Lectures Delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory of Wood’s Holl^([sic – meaning Hole]) in the Summer Session of 1893, Boston, Mass.: Ginn & Company, published 1894, →OCLC, page 29:

(biology) Relating to chromatin (“a complex of DNA, RNA, and proteins within the cell nucleus out of which chromosomes condense during cell division”).


cap

Inherited from Middle English cappe, from Old English cæppe, from Proto-West Germanic *kappā (“covering, hood, mantle”), from Late Latin cappa, itself from Latin caput. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *káput- and Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“head”). Doublet of cape, chape, and cope.

nalli

small amount of explosive used as detonator

(zoology) The whole top of the head of a bird from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck.


approximate

en-adj

approximate (comparative more approximate, superlative most approximate)

more approximate (comparative)
most approximate (superlative)
approx. (alternative)

From Middle English approximat(e) (“close, near (to); similar; intimate”, also used as the past participle of approximaten), from Latin approximātus, the perfect passive participle of approximō (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), further from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + proximō (“to come near”). The nouns was derived from the adjective through substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). See also proximate.

inh

also used as the past participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">approximaten</i>

(botany) Drawn close together, but not united.


protein

en-noun

protein (countable and uncountable, plural proteins)

Gerardus Johannes Mulder
Jöns Jacob Berzelius

From proto- + -ein. Suggested by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in a letter to Gerardus Johannes Mulder, from French protéine and German Protein, both coined based on Ancient Greek πρωτεῖος (prōteîos, “primary”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”).

der

human seminal plasma protein hypersensitivity

Meronym: amino acid

Proteins carry out the bulk of cellular functions, including relaying signals, providing structural support, and accelerating biochemical reactions.

2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 534:

Because of her significant testing, Avery had had DNA sequencing of her “exome,” the part of her genome that makes proteins in the body, said Dr. Michael Wangler, a researcher at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

2017 December 18, Ashley Strickland, “Mystery condition gives way to bright future for 10-year-old”, in CNN:

(biochemistry, countable) Any of numerous large, complex naturally-produced molecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acids, in which the amino acid groups are held together by peptide bonds.


phrenology

en-noun

phrenology (countable and uncountable, plural phrenologies)

Phrenology involves feeling the bumps in the skull to determine an individual's psychological attributes.

MR. BURNS: Who could forget such a monstrous visage? She has the sloping brow and cranial bumpage of the career criminal.
 MR. SMITHERS: Uh, sir, phrenology was dismissed as quackery 160 years ago.

1995 November 19, Richard Appel, “Mother Simpson”, in The Simpsons, Harry Shearer (actor):

Phrenology was the practice of correlating bumps on a skull with mental powers and attributes of character.

2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 86:

One significance weakness of phrenology in the eyes of most anatomists, as Anne Harrington has shown, was that the brain comprised two structurally identical cerebral hemispheres, separated by a longitudinal fissure, whereas phrenologists held that the material sub-stratum of various mental faculties was located in only one hemisphere, and not its twin.

2020 October 5, Paul Turnbull, “Thinking About Craniometry- The Racial Turn”, in Paul Turnbull:

(medicine, biology, historical) The pseudo-science which studies the relationships between a person's character and the morphology (structure) of the skull.

frenologie

the science or discredited pseudo-science of phrenology


cyclops

cyclops (plural cyclops or cyclopes or cyclopses)

cyclops (plural)
cyclopes (plural)
cyclopses (plural)

Borrowed from Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps, “Cyclops”).

der

(zoology) Any copepod in the genus Cyclops.


media

Learned borrowing from Latin media, the feminine nominative of medius (“middle”, adjective), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). In the sense of a unit of dry measure, via Spanish media. Doublet of medium, medio, and mediate.

(entomology) One of the major veins of the insect wing, between the radius and the cubitus.

(zoology) An ant specialized as a forager in a leaf-cutter ant colony.


biocompatibility

en-noun

biocompatibility (usually uncountable, plural biocompatibilities)

(biology) The ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific situation.


filial

en-adj

filial (comparative more filial, superlative most filial)

more filial (comparative)
most filial (superlative)

From Middle English filial, from Latin fīliālis, from filius (“son”) / filia (“daughter”).

This, following Bateson, we may call the parental generation or P generation. Subsequent generations are called filial generations (abbreviated F) and their numerical order is indicated by a subscript, as first filial (F₁), second filial (F₂), etc.

1916, William E. Castle, Gregor Mendel, Genetics & Eugenics, page 101:

(genetics) Of a generation or generations descending from a specific previous one.


acicular

the acicular foliage of coniferous trees

[…] though fond of foliage, their trees always had a tendency to congeal into little acicular thorn-hedges, and never tossed free.

1860, John Ruskin, chapter 3, in Modern Painters […], volume V, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part VIII (Of Ideas of Relation:—I. Of Invention Formal.), page 189:

(botany) Of a leaf, slender and pointed, needle-like.


fin

Dutch language
German language
Latin language
Middle English language
Old English language
Old Irish language
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Indo-European language
Swedish language
Tocharian A language
fin
fin (disambiguation)

From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finnō, *finǭ (“dorsal fin”) (compare Dutch vin, German Finne, Swedish finne, fena), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pīn- (“backbone, dorsal fin”) (compare Old Irish ind (“end, point”), Latin pinna (“feather, wing, fin”), Tocharian A spin (“hook”).

der-lite

The fish's fins minimize water flow.

Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

(ichthyology, zootomy) One of the appendages of a fish, used to propel itself and to manoeuvre/maneuver.


activation

en-noun

activation (countable and uncountable, plural activations)

/ˌæktɪˈveɪʃən/

/ˌæktəˈveɪʃən/

(biochemistry) The process by which molecules are made able to react.

aktivaatio

process through which molecules are made able to react


dental

Borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

af

(veterinary medicine) Cleaning and polishing of an animal's teeth.


sterilize

en-verb

sterilize (third-person singular simple present sterilizes, present participle sterilizing, simple past and past participle sterilized)

sterilizes (present singular third-person)
sterilizing (participle present)
sterilized (participle past)
sterilized (past)
sterilise (alternative UK)

One machine in which Mr. Taylor takes special pride is a salmon canner, which engulfs a whole salmon, decapitates and decaudates it, skins it, blows out its viscera, cuts it into pieces, deposits them in the can, sterilizes them […]

1937, Technology Review, volume 40, page 100:

The bottled juice must be heated to a temperature and for a time sufficient to attain a sterilizing temperature at the coolest point, usually the center of the bottle.

1938, C.B. Hutchison, S.B. Freeborn, Toward Better Agriculture: Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California, page 44:

(transitive, biology) To kill, deactivate (denature), or destroy (break apart) all living, viable microorganisms and spores on a surface, in a fluid, or contained in a compound, such as culture media or a medical product.

обеззаразявам

(biology) to destroy all spores or germs


fix

fix (third-person singular simple present fixes, present participle fixing, simple past and past participle fixt or fixed)

fixes (present singular third-person)
fixing (participle present)
fixt (participle past)
fixt (past)
fixed (participle past)
fixed (past)
fix (infinitive)
fix (first-person present singular)
fixed (first-person past singular)
fix (present second-person singular)
fixest (archaic present second-person singular)
fixed (past second-person singular)
fixedst (archaic past second-person singular)
fixes (present singular third-person)
fixeth (archaic present singular third-person)
fixed (past singular third-person)
fix (plural present)
fixed (past plural)
fix (present subjunctive)
fixed (past subjunctive)
fix (imperative present)
fixing (participle present)
fixed (participle past)
fixe (alternative archaic)

→ Dutch: fixen, fiksen

From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.

der

Legumes are valued in crop rotation for their ability to fix nitrogen.

it is well to fix with sodium hyposulphite , and to wash as usual

1878, William de Wiveleslie Abney, A treatise on photography:

(transitive, chemistry, biology) To convert into a stable or available form.


palindrome

From Ancient Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos, “running back again”), from πάλιν (pálin, “back, again, back again”) + δρόμος (drómos, “running, race, racecourse”). By surface analysis, palin- + -drome (compare also velodrome and syndrome).

апалиндром

a sequence of units that reads the same forwards as backwards

(genetics) A stretch of DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides on one strand are in the reverse order to that of the complementary strand


clavis

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

There are many disadvantages in using a clavis intended for another country, which necessarily includes plants that are absent from our islands while it omits some that are present and neglects the peculiarities of our island flora.

1921, Alexander Irvine, “Short Notes: Rosa spinosissima×rubiginosa×f. cantiana, forma nova”, in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, volume 59, number 702, page 180:

(taxonomy) A key; an identification guide; a series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.

検索表

groups of information used for identifying a taxon


simplex

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-simplex.wav

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-simplices.wav

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-simplicia.wav

Henri Poincaré
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Pieter Hendrik Schoute

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin simplex (“plain, simple; single”). The first part, sim-, comes from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥- (“one; together”). The second part, -plex, may be from *pleḱ- (“to weave”).
The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural forms simplices and simplicia are learned borrowings from Latin simplicēs (masculine or feminine) and simplicia (neuter), respectively plural forms of simplex.
Noun sense 1 (“generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension”) was apparently coined by the Dutch mathematician Pieter Hendrik Schoute (1846–1913) as a short version of Simplicissimum in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie (in German, 1902). (In his pioneering works on algebraic topology, the French mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) had previously introduced the concept, but not the actual term simplex.)

lbor

Of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes.

simpleksinen

of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes

(archaic or obsolete) Synonym of heterozygous (“of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene”).


duplex

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
Borrowed from Latin duplex (“double, two-fold”), from duo (“two”) + plico (“fold together”); compare the roots of διπλόος (diplóos, “double”); compare also πλέκω (plékō, “twist, braid”). By surface analysis, duo- + -plex.

(biochemistry) A double-stranded polynucleotide.


achroödextrin

From Ancient Greek privative ἀ- (a-, “not”) + χρώς (khrṓs, “color”) + dextrin.

(biochemistry) Dextrin not colorable by iodine.


ala

Originated 1730–40, borrowed from Latin āla (“wing”). Doublet of aisle.

(botany) The flattened border of some stems, fruits, and seeds, or one of the two side petals of certain flowers in the pea family.