metabolism English · revision 39603

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1872, W. A. Hollis, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology|origins=grc βάλλω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /mɪˈtab.ə.lɪz.əm/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|grc|μεταβολή|tr=metabolḗ|t=change]] with the English suffix [[-ism]], formed after the adjective [[metabolic]];^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010) Etymonline takes it from [[fr|métabolisme]],^(Etymonline) and Barnhart sees both the English formation and the French word behind it.^(Barnhart 1988) The Greek noun comes from [[m|grc|μεταβάλλω|tr=metabállō|t=to change]], made of [[m|grc|μετά|tr=metá]] and [[m|grc|βάλλω|tr=bállō|t=to throw]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023) from [[ine-pro|*gʷelə-|t=to throw, reach]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) Merriam-Webster treats it as an international scientific word.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Structural change in a tissue: 1872, in W. A. Hollis in the ''Journal of Anatomy and Physiology'', a rare sense soon obsolete.^(OED 2026) The lasting sense, the chemical processes by which a living body maintains itself, follows in 1878, in Michael Foster's ''Text Book of Physiology'';^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Dictionary.com dates the word 1875–80.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective ''metabolic'' is older: Barnhart finds it in 1743, in Henry Fielding, meaning "involving change", and the physiological sense in 1845, in a translation of a French book on physiology.^(Barnhart 1988) A theological sense, the change undergone by the bread and wine of the [[Eucharist]] when they are consecrated, appears in 1876, after [[de|Metabolismus]] (1856); the Greek word had been used of the Eucharistic elements in Hellenistic times.^(OED 2026) Etymonline notes that the word has also been used in poetics and entomology.^(Etymonline) Figurative uses, of a society or a mind, are recorded from 1900.^(OED 2026) Since 1960 the word, capitalised, has also been the name of a modernist movement in Japanese architecture that treated the city as a living organism.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1743 – ''metabolic'', involving change.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1872 – structural change in a tissue (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1876 – (theology) the change of the Eucharistic elements.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1878 – the chemical processes of a living organism.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1900 – figurative use.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1960 – (architecture) the Japanese Metabolism movement.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The whole of the [[chemical]] processes in a living [[organism]] by which food is turned into energy and new tissue and waste is removed, including [[anabolism]] and [[catabolism]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The rate at which these processes take place in a person: ''Exercise can speed up your metabolism.''^(SOED 2002)

+ # The chemical changes that a particular substance undergoes in the body: ''iron metabolism''.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # (figurative) The processes by which a society, city or other system keeps itself going.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[holometabolism]]

+ * [[hypermetabolism]]

+ * [[metabolite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[metabolic]]

+ * [[anabolism]]

+ * [[catabolism]]

+ * [[ballistic]]

+ * [[problem]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}