| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024ne•ot•e•ny (nē ot′n ē),USA pronunciation n. [Biol.]- Developmental Biology, BiologyAlso called pedogenesis. the production of offspring by an organism in its larval or juvenile form; the elimination of the adult phase of the life cycle.
- Developmental Biologya slowing of the rate of development with the consequent retention in adulthood of a feature or features that appeared in an earlier phase in the life cycle of ancestral individuals:Neoteny in the ostrich has resulted in adult birds sporting the down feathers of nestlings.
- Greek neo- neo- + teín(ein) to stretch + -ia -y3
- Neo-Latin neotēnia
- 1900–05
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: neoteny /nɪˈɒtənɪ/ n - the persistence of larval or fetal features in the adult form of an animal. For example, the adult axolotl, a salamander, retains larval external gills
Etymology: 19th Century: from New Latin neotenia, from Greek neo- + teinein to stretch |