Etymology

chemoautotrophic

Today it means: obtaining its nutrition through the oxidation of non-organic compounds (or other chemical processes); as opposed to the process of photosynthesis. Full definition →

English autotrophic ← New Latin chēmīa ← Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā)influ.
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰew-
  2. Ancient Greekχῠ́μᾰ (khŭ́mă)
  3. Ancient Greekχυμείᾱ (khumeíā)
  4. Arabicالْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ)
  5. Medieval Latinalchēmia
  6. Ancient Greekχυμείᾱ (khumeíā)influ.
  7. New Latinchēmīa
  8. Englishchemo-
  9. Englishautotrophic
  10. English todaychemoautotrophic

From chemo- + autotrophic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.