Where does “metabolism” come from?
I need to work through this etymology chain carefully, but I notice the chain provided appears incomplete or problematic—it shows Ancient Greek βάλλω twice and doesn't include the "meta-" prefix component that would be essential to "metabolism."
However, following your instruction to "state only what the chain supports" and not invent intermediate steps: I cannot write an accurate sentence because the chain as given doesn't contain the necessary etymological path for "metabolism." The word requires both "meta-" (from Ancient Greek μετά) and a root related to "throwing" or "change," but the provided chain lacks the complete derivation.
Could you verify the etymology chain? A proper metabolism etymology should trace through:
- English metabolism
- from Ancient Greek metabolē (change)
- from metabollein (to change)
- from meta- + ballein (to throw)
- from Ancient Greek βάλλω and related elements
metabolism (English): The chemical processes that occur within a living...
Definitions
- The chemical processes that occur within a living...
Ancestry of “metabolism”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -ism | Used to form nouns of action or process or result... |
| 2 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |
Words derived from “metabolism”