parthenogenesis
English
Etymology
From parthen- + -o- + -genesis, from Ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin”) and γένεσις (génesis, “origin, creation, generation”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pär'thĭnōjĕʹnĭsĭs, pär'thənōjĕʹnĭsĭs, IPA(key): /ˌpɑːθɪnəʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/, /ˌpɑːθənəʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/
- (General American) enPR: pär'thənōjĕʹnĭsĭs, IPA(key): /ˌpɑɹθɪnoʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/, /ˌpɑɹθənoʊˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/
- Hyphenation: par‧the‧no‧gen‧e‧sis
Noun
parthenogenesis (usually uncountable, plural parthenogeneses)
- (biology) Referring to various aspects of asexual reproduction:
- (biology, countable, uncountable) (An instance of) reproduction by the development of a single gamete (an ovum or ovule) without fertilisation by a gamete of the opposite sex; compare metagenesis, heterogamy.
- 2008 October 15, "Virgin Shark Gives Birth", AFP via Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
- Scientists say the birth is the second confirmed instance of a shark being conceived by parthenogenesis, a process in which an unfertilised egg develops into a new individual.
- 2008 October 15, "Virgin Shark Gives Birth", AFP via Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
- (biology, uncountable, formerly) Asexual reproduction in toto; agamogenesis.
- (biology, countable, uncountable) (An instance of) reproduction by the development of a single gamete (an ovum or ovule) without fertilisation by a gamete of the opposite sex; compare metagenesis, heterogamy.
- (countable and uncountable) figurative uses of the biological senses
- 1870: James Russell Lowell, Among My Books, series I, Shakespeare Once More, page 223
- We may learn, to be sure, plenty of lessons from Shakespeare. We are not likely to have kingdoms to divide, crowns foretold us by weird sisters, a father’s death to avenge, or to kill our wives from jealously ; but Lear may teach us to draw the line more clearly between a wise generosity and a loose-handed weakness of giving ; Macbeth, how one sin involves another, and forever another, by a fatal parthenogenesis, and that the key which unlocks forbidden doors to our will or passion leaves a stain on the hand, that may not be so dark as blood, but that will not out ; Hamlet, that all the noblest gifts of person, temperament, and mind slip like sand through the grasp of an infirm purpose ; Othello, that the perpetual silt of some one weakness, the eddies of a suspicious temper depositing their one impalpable layer after another, may build up a shoal on which an heroic life and an otherwise magnanimous nature may bilge and go to pieces.
- 1870: James Russell Lowell, Among My Books, series I, Shakespeare Once More, page 223
- (theology) Virgin birth, in reference to the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
- 1999, Carol V. Kaske, Spenser and Biblical poetics, →ISBN, page 177:
- Christ’s parthenogenesis exalts woman.
Related terms
Translations
reproduction from a single gamete without fertilisation
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asexual reproduction — see agamogenesis
virgin birth
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References
- “parthenogenesis” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [second edition; 1989]
Deriving directly from Ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos) + γένεσις (génesis); pronounced: /ˌpɑːθənəʊˈdʒɛnɪsɪs/; defined in the uncountable biologic senses only. - “parthenogenesis, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [Draft revision; Dec. 2008]
Deriving from the English affixes partheno- + -genesis; pronounced: Brit. /ˌpɑːθᵻnə(ʊ)ˈdʒɛnᵻsɪs/, U.S. /ˈˌpɑrθənoʊˈdʒɛnəsəs/; defined in the uncountable biologic senses (as well as the figurative sense deriving thence) only. - parthenogenesis in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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