Etymology

metabolism

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Today it means: The chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life. Full definition →

Ancient Greek μετᾰβολή (metăbolḗ) ← Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō ← Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*me
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meth₂?
  3. Ancient Greekμετᾰ́ (metắ)
  4. Ancient Greekμετα- (meta-)
  5. Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH-
  6. Proto-Hellenic*gʷəlnō
  7. Ancient Greekβάλλω (bállō)
  8. Ancient Greekμεταβάλλω (metabállō)
  9. Ancient Greekμετᾰβολή (metăbolḗ)
  10. English todaymetabolism

From Ancient Greek μεταβολή (metabolḗ, “change”) + -ism, from μεταβάλλω (metabállō, “to change, to alter”) + -η (-ē, action noun suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.