biosynthesis

Etymology

It is formed from English bio- + synthesis.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Webster's Third call it New Latin.^[6] The combining form bio- is from Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life, course of life”),^[3] and synthesis comes through Latin synthesis from Ancient Greek σύνθεσις (súnthesis, “composition, a putting together”), from συντίθημι (suntíthēmi, “to put together”).^[3] The OED compares French synthèse biochimique, used in 1916 in the French paper summarized in its first quotation, and the later biosynthèse (1955).^[2] The adjective biosynthetic is recorded slightly earlier, in 1917.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making of a substance by a living organism: 1918, in the Year Book of the American Pharmaceutical Association.^[2]

Timeline

• 1918 – the synthesis of a substance by a living organism, or by cells or extracts from one.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1904,^[6] Dictionary.com to 1925–30,^[5] and Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate to 1930.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The production of chemical compounds by living organisms, especially of complex substances from simpler ones, as when yeast makes alcohol.^[8][6][9][2]

Word family

• biosynthetic
• biosynthetically

Related words

• biogenesis
• synthesis
• synthetic
• photosynthesis
• biology

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin