abiogenesis
Syllables: abi·o·ge·ne·sisUK/ˌeɪbaɪəʊˈdʒɛnəsɪs//ˌeɪˌbaioʊˈd͡ʒɛnəsɪs/
abiogenesis noun: the origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents.

Noun
abiogenesis (countable and uncountable, plural abiogeneses)
- The origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents.
- 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...1870 September 17, [Thomas Henry Huxley], “The President’s Address”, in The Athenæum: Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music and the Drama, number 2238, London...
- 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...1872 October 3, “Societies and Academies: Philadelphia”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume VI, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 472, column 2
- Synonyms:
- abiogeny, biopoiesis, origin of life
- Antonyms:
- biogenesis, transformism
abiogenesis meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
abiogenesis in Hindi
- origination of living organisms from lifeless matter
- अजीवात् जीवोत्पत्ति ajīvāt jīvotpatti
abiogenesis in Tamil
- origination of living organisms from lifeless matter
- உயிரிலிவழிப்பிறப்பு uyirilivaḻippiṟappu
abiogenesis in Bengali
- origination of living organisms from lifeless matter
- জীবনের উৎপত্তি jiboner utpotti
abiogenesis in Malayalam
- origination of living organisms from lifeless matter
- അജീവജീവോത്പത്തി ajīvajīvōtpatti, അബിയോജെനിസിസ് abiyōjenisisŭ, അജൈവജനനം ajaivajananaṁ, അജൈവജീവോൽപത്തി ajaivajīvōlpatti
More languagesFewer languages
- abiogenesis in Kannada
- ಉಸಿರಿಲಿಹುಟ್ಟು, ಅಜೀವ ಜನನ
- abiogenesis in Punjabi
- ਉਤਭੁਜ utabhuj
- abiogenesis in Sinhala
- අජීවජ්නනය ajīwajnanaya
- abiogenesis in Tagalog
- singaw-buhay
- abiogenesis in Arabic
- تولد تلقائي
- abiogenesis in Malay
- abiogenesis
- abiogenesis in Indonesian
- abiogenesis
- abiogenesis in Persian
- نازیستزایی nāzīstzāyī
- abiogenesis in Thai
- กำเนิดชีวิตจากสิ่งไร้ชีวิต
- abiogenesis in Vietnamese
- sự phát sinh tự nhiên
Examples of abiogenesis in a sentence
- 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.1872 October 3, “Societies and Academies: Philadelphia”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume VI, London; New York...
- There was one abiogenesis when something happened to turn inanimate matter into animate cells.1971, Cyril C. Means, Jr., Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates [...], volume 117, part 23, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government...
- Although abiogenesis, the spontaneous creation of a living system under appropriate conditions, must have occurred at the end of the prebiotic world, spontaneous generation of life no longer occurs.2014, G. Bradley Schaefer; James N. Thompson, Jr., “Genetics: Unity and Diversity”, in Medical Genetics: An Integrated Approach, New York...
Synonyms of abiogenesis
- abiogeny
- biopoiesis
- origin of life
Antonyms
Forms of abiogenesis
| plural | abiogeneses |
|---|
Origin of abiogenesis
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).
Words formed from abiogenesis
Questions about abiogenesis
- What does abiogenesis mean?
- Abiogenesis means the origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents.
- What is abiogenesis in Hindi?
- Abiogenesis in Hindi is अजीवात् जीवोत्पत्ति (ajīvāt jīvotpatti). See Abiogenesis meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use abiogenesis in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is abiogenesis?
- Abiogenesis is a noun.
- How do you pronounce abiogenesis?
- Abiogenesis is pronounced /ˌeɪbaɪəʊˈdʒɛnəsɪs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of abiogenesis?
- The plural of abiogenesis is abiogeneses.
Words near abiogenesis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: abiogenesis (page history and authors); abiogenesis (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-abiogenesis.wav.
Cite this entry: “abiogenesis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abiogenesis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
