differentiation

Meaning

Noun

• The act of differentiating.
• The act of distinguishing or describing a thing, by giving its different, or specific difference; exact definition or determination.
• The gradual formation or production of organs or parts by a process of evolution or development, as when the seed develops the root and the stem, the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds; or in animal life, when the germ evolves the digestive and other organs and members, or when the animals as they advance in organization acquire special organs for specific purposes.
• (geology) The process of separation of cooling magma into various rock types.
• The process of determining the derived function of a function.

Origin

• From differentiate + -ion, from different + -iate, from differ + -ent, from Middle English differen, from Old French differer, from Latin differō ("carry apart, put off, defer; differ"), from dis- + ferō; cognate with Ancient Greek διαφέρω ("to differ").