abiogenesis

Definition

The origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not-”, the alpha privative) + 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”)); equivalent to abio- + genesis. The words biogenesis and abiogenesis were both coined by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) in 1870 (see the quotation).

Example Sentences

• "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 contrary doctrine—that living matter may be produced by not living matter—the hypothesis of Abiogenesis."
• "The assertion of [Louis] Pasteur is justified, that the onus probandi [burden of proof] lies with abiogenesists, since there is no experience of any living form more than ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch in diameter springing to life out of inorganic matter; it is therefore vastly improbable (needing most cogent evidence to prove), that any form less than ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch in size can be made to spring into life from inorganic matter. While abiogenesis is unproved, we hold to the conclusion that vital force is not the mere outcome or resultant of any or all of the other cosmic forces."
• "Life began. There was one abiogenesis when something happened to turn inanimate matter into animate cells. And it happened only once. There are no abiogeneses today. Human life is continuous. Human persons are discontinuous and individual."

Related Words