Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ontogenesis \On`to*gen"e*sis\, Ontogeny \On*tog"e*ny\, n. [See
Ontology, and Genesis.] (Biol.)
The history of the individual development of an organism; the
sequence of events involved in the development of an
organism; the history of the evolution of the germ; the
development of an individual organism, -- in distinction from
phylogeny, or evolution of the tribe. Called also
henogenesis, henogeny.
Syn: growth, growing, maturation, development.
[1913 Webster]
ontogeny
n : (biology) the process of an individual organism growing
organically; a purely biological unfolding of events
involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple
to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of
osseous development in children" [syn: growth, growing,
maturation, development, ontogenesis] [ant: nondevelopment]
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