Eclosions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act or process of hatching from an egg, especially in the context of insects or other animals
2. the emergence or unfolding of an organism from its encased form
3. a significant transition marked by the departure from a dormant state to active life

Etymology: "Eclosions" is the plural of "eclosion", a word that has meant the hatching or emergence of an insect or other creature from its egg, pupa or cocoon. It comes from French "éclosion", a noun formed from "éclore", "to hatch" or "to open out", which descends from Latin "ex-" ("out") and "claudere" ("to close" or "shut"). The sense thus turns on a reversal: the Latin root is about enclosing, while the French verb describes what happens when the enclosure breaks open. In French, "éclore" was used of flowers opening as well as of birds breaking from their eggs, and that broader sense of unfolding remains part of the word. English took the term from French as a technical word for the emergence of insects and other organisms, and it is most often found in entomology.