Meanings
plural chaetotaxies · alternative chætotaxy · alternative chaeototaxy · alternative chetotaxy
- countableuncountablebiologyThe arrangement of, and study of arrangement of, chaetae (chitinous bristles) on a species or subspecies of animal, usually and especially an arthropod or annelid.
I propose the term Chætotaxy for the arrangement of bristles on the different parts of the body of the Diptera, the composition of this term being analogous to phyllotaxy, the order or arrangement of leaves of plants.
1884 November 5, C. R. Osten-Sacken, “An Essay of Comparative Chætotaxy, or the arrangement of characteristic bristles of Diptera”, in Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, London, page 497
Origin
By analogy to phyllotaxy, substituting the prefix chaeto- from Greek χαίτη (khaítē). By surface analysis, chaeto- -taxy (compare taxis).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chaetotaxy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chaetotaxy
“chaetotaxy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chaetotaxy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chaetotaxy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chaetotaxy.
Source: chaetotaxy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.