emboîtement

noun

The outdated hypothesis that all living things proceed from pre-existing germs, and that these encase the germs of all future living things, enclosed one within another.

OriginFrench emboîtement →
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Meanings

nounemboîtement (uncountable)
  1. historicaluncountablebiologyThe outdated hypothesis that all living things proceed from pre-existing germs, and that these encase the germs of all future living things, enclosed one within another.

    [R]ivals professed to see an equivalent in the semen, giving rise to the ‘preformation’ or emboîtement theories which contended that the new individual was completely developed as a tiny homunculus from the moment of conception.

    1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 217

Origin

  1. Frenchemboîtement
  2. Englishemboîtement

From French emboîtement.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

emboîtement. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/embo%C3%AEtement

MLA

“emboîtement.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/embo%C3%AEtement. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “emboîtement,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/embo%C3%AEtement.

Source: emboîtement on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.