Organogeneses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of organ development and formation in an organism during embryonic growth
2. The specific phases and mechanisms involved in creating and shaping various organs from unspecialized cells in a developing organism
3. A biological process that encompasses the differentiation and assembly of organ systems from basic cellular structures in embryos

Etymology: "Organogeneses" is simply the plural of "organogenesis," so it refers to more than one instance of the process by which organs form. The base word is a compound built from "organo-," a combining form of the Greek "organon" meaning "instrument" or "organ," and "-genesis," from Ancient Greek "génesis," meaning "origin" or "coming into being." The Greek "génesis" traces back to a root meaning "to be born" or "to produce," which also gave English words such as "genetic" and "generate." The second element arrived in English through Latin, which borrowed the Greek "génesis" and kept its core sense of origin or creation. English then used "-genesis" as a productive ending for coinages about how things come into existence, so "organogenesis" joins a family of scientific terms built on the same pattern. Its exact date of coinage is not something to rely on here, but the compound reflects the modern scientific habit of combining classical elements to name biological processes.

Synonyms: organ formation, organ development