biogenesis

Meaning

Noun

• The principle that living organisms are produced only from other living organisms.
• Biosynthesis.

Related

Opposite words

• abiogenesis

Origin

• From Ancient Greek βῐ́ος ("life") (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ("to live")) + γένεσις (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis ("birth; production")). The words biogenesis and abiogenesis were both coined by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) in 1870 (see the quotation).
• The word biogenesis was first used by English physiologist and neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian (1837–1915) around 1869 to mean “life-origination or commencement” in an unpublished exchange of correspondence with Irish physicist John Tyndall. However, in an 1871 book, Bastian announced he was adopting a new term, archebiosis, because of the confusion that might be caused by Huxley’s use of biogenesis with a different meaning.
• Equivalent to bio- + genesis.