meiosis English · revision 1275

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /maɪˈəʊ.sɪs/ ''(UK)''; /maɪˈoʊ.sɪs/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It comes from [[grc|μείωσις|tr=meíōsis|t=a lessening, diminution]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from ''meioûn'' “to lessen”, from ''meíōn'' “less”.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) The biological term is New Latin.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In rhetoric, a figure of speech that presents something as less in size or importance than it really is (1586 in the OED; 1550 in Merriam-Webster).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In rhetoric it also came to mean [[litotes]], as “not bad” for “very good” (1642).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In pathology it named the stage of a disease when the symptoms begin to abate (1857).^(OED 1989) The biological sense, the division of a cell that halves the number of chromosomes, is from 1905.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1586 – a figure of understatement.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1642 – litotes.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1857 – the abating stage of a disease.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1905 – cell division halving the chromosomes.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The process of [[cell division]] in sexually reproducing organisms that reduces the number of [[chromosome|alt=chromosomes]] by half, producing [[gamete|alt=gametes]] or spores.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Rhetorical [[understatement]], especially [[litotes]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[meiotic]]

+ * [[meiotically]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mitosis]]

+ * [[litotes]]

+ * [[minor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}