allometry

English

WOTD – 22 October 2015

Etymology

From allo- +‎ -metry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæləˌmɛtɹɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: allo‧metry

Noun

allometry (uncountable)

1. (biology) Disproportionate growth of a part of a living organism in relation to the whole.
   • 1983 May 5, Paul Harvey, Tim Clutton-Brock, “The Survival of the Theory”, in New Scientist‎^[1], volume 98, number 1356, London: New Science Publications, →ISSN, page 313:

     Some organs may grow faster than the rest of the body so that their size increases not only in absolute terms, but also relatively to the rest of the body, which is positive allometry; or they may grow more slowly than the rest of the body, and so decrease in relative size, which is negative allometry.

2. (biology) The science studying the differential growth rates of the parts of a living organism.

Derived terms

• hyperallometry
• hypoallometry

 

Related terms

• allometric

Translations

disproportionate growth of a part of a living organism in relation to the whole

• Polish: alometria f, allometria f

the science studying the differential growth rates of body parts

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 异速生长 (yìsùshēngzhǎng)

• Czech: alometrie f
• French: allométrie f
• Greek: αλλομετρία (el) f (allometría)
• Irish: allaiméadracht f
• Japanese: アロメトリー (arometorī)
• Portuguese: alometria f
• Romanian: alometrie f
• Swedish: allometri c

Further reading

• allometry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia