Chemosynthesis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which certain organisms convert carbon compounds into organic matter using energy derived from chemical reactions instead of light is known as a chemical synthesis method
2. It describes how some autotrophic organisms use inorganic substances to produce organic compounds through energy released during chemical reactions
3. This biological process allows specific organisms to manufacture food by harnessing energy from chemical processes rather than from sunlight

Etymology: Chemosynthesis is a compound built from two pieces, and the first is a trace of an older science. "Chemo-" comes from "chemistry," which traces back through New Latin "chēmīa" to the Medieval Latin "alchēmia" and ultimately to the Arabic "al-kīmiyāʔ," borrowed from the Ancient Greek "khumeíā." That Greek term originally referred to the craft of metalworking and mixing substances, so the same ancestry that gave us alchemy sits at the front of this biology word. The second piece, "synthesis," comes from the Ancient Greek "súnthesis," literally a putting together, formed from "sun-" meaning "with" or "together" and "thesis" meaning a placing. Joining the two halves gives the sense of building something up from chemical reactions. The word is a modern scientific coinage, formed in English from these existing Greek-derived elements rather than being used by the ancient writers who produced those roots.