aposematism

Meaning

Noun

• An adaptation, especially a form of coloration, that warns off potential predators.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• warning coloration

Origin

• apo- (from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό ("from, away from")) + sematic (from Ancient Greek σῆμα ("mark, sign, token"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰyeh₂- ("to notice") + -μᾰ) -ism. The word aposematic was coined by British evolutionary biologist Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856–1943) in The Colours of Animals (1890).