Chemosynthetic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A biological process utilized by specific organisms to create energy and organic matter from inorganic compounds via chemical reactions rather than photosynthesis
2. Certain life forms engage in a method of energy production that transforms inorganic elements into food through chemical reactions without relying on sunlight
3. Pertaining to the biological mechanism where organisms generate organic nutrients from inorganic substances through chemical energy rather than sunlight

Etymology: Chemosynthesis is built from two Greek-derived pieces that were assembled in modern scientific English. The first, "chemo-", goes back to the Arabic "al-kīmiyāʔ" (the alchemy), which passed into Medieval Latin as "alchēmia" and then into New Latin as "chēmīa." English took the combining form "chemo-" from that Latin base, so the chemical part of the word carries the old alchemists' vocabulary with it. The second part descends from Ancient Greek "sún" (together) and "títhēmi" (to place), which combined into "sunthesis," meaning a putting together. Greek "sunthetikós" gave French "synthétique," and English adopted the idea as "synthetic." Its literal sense of building something up from parts is what the word keeps: an organism that assembles organic matter from simple inorganic substances. Put together, "chemosynthetic" is a modern scientific coinage that pairs an alchemy-derived prefix with a Greek-rooted term for synthesis. The ancient Greeks had neither the word nor the process, which was identified only in modern times.