hybridization

Etymology

It is formed from English hybridize + -ation.^[2][3][4] Hybridize, recorded from 1800, is from hybrid and -ize,^[2][3] and hybrid is from Latin hybrida (“offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar; mongrel”), of unknown origin.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The production of hybrid plants or animals by cross-breeding: 1828, in the Gardener's Magazine.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1824,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 19th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began in gardening and breeding, after the verb hybridize had come to mean to cross-breed plants (1822).^[2] By 1865 it was used in general of any mixing of different elements.^[2] The 20th century gave it a series of technical senses: in geology the formation of a hybrid rock from mixed magmas (1911), in chemistry the combining of atomic orbitals into a hybrid orbital (1932), in biochemistry the joining of complementary strands of nucleic acid or other subunits (1959), and in cytology the artificial fusion of two different body cells (1961).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1828 – the cross-breeding of plants or animals.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1824.^[3]
• 1865 – any combination or mixture of different elements.^[2]
• 1911 – in geology, the formation of a hybrid rock.^[2]
• 1932 – in chemistry, the formation of a hybrid orbital.^[2]
• 1959 – in biochemistry, the recombination of complementary subunits of a macromolecule.^[2]
• 1961 – in cytology, the artificial fusion of two different cells.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The crossbreeding of different varieties or species of plants or animals to produce hybrids; the state of being hybridized.^[5][2][4]
2. Any combining or mixing of different elements, or the result of it: the hybridization of two musical styles.^[2][4]
3. (chemistry) The combining of two or more atomic orbitals into hybrid orbitals.^[2]
4. (biochemistry) The joining of complementary strands of nucleic acid or other subunits into one molecule.^[2]
5. (biology) The artificial fusion of two body cells of different types into a hybrid cell.^[2][4]
6. (geology) The formation of a hybrid rock by the mixing of different magmas.^[2]

Related words

• hybrid
• hybridize

Usage notes

The British spelling is also hybridisation.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster