biogenesis

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biogenesis

/bʌɪə(ʊ)ˈdʒɛnəsɪs/ UK
/baɪə-/ UK
/baɪoʊ-/ UK
/biːə-/ UK
/biːoʊ-/ UK
/-nɪ-/ UK
/ˌbaioʊˈd͡ʒɛnəsɪs/ US

Where it comes from

From Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + γένεσις (génesis, “origin, source; manner of birth; creation”) (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and neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian (1837–1915) around 1869 to mean “life-origination or commencement” in an unpublished exchange of correspondence with Irish physicist John Tyndall.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.

noun biogeneses

uncountable, usually The principle that living organisms are produced only from other living organisms. And thus the hypothesis that living matter always arises by the agency of pre-existing living matter, took definite shape; […] It will be necessary for me to refer to this hypothesis so frequently, that, to save circumlocution, I shall call it the hypothesis of Biogenesis; and I shall term the contr
uncountable, usually Biosynthesis.

Opposite: abiogenesis

Thesaurus

noun

Opposite: abiogenesis

Translations

Every language

noun principle

Español	biogénesis
Français	biogenèse
Deutsch	Biogenese
Italiano	biogenesi
Ελληνικά	βιογένεση viogénesi

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MLA

"biogenesis." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/biogenesis. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

biogenesis. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/biogenesis

Chicago

"biogenesis." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/biogenesis.

BibTeX

@misc{biogenesis_2026,
  title = {biogenesis},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/biogenesis},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}