ecosystem English · revision 39682

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1935, A. G. Tansley, Ecology|origins=grc οἶκος, grc σύστημα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|en|eco-|system]].^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(Dictionary.com 2016) Etymonline suggests that it was coined by the English ecologist Sir Arthur George Tansley (1871–1955),^(Etymonline) and the OED's first example is from Tansley's article in the journal ''Ecology'' in 1935.^(OED 2026) The first element is taken from [[ecology]],^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023) which goes back to [[de|Oecologie]], coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1866 from [[grc|οἶκος|tr=oîkos|t=house, dwelling]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) ''System'' comes through [[la-lat|systema]] from [[grc|σύστημα|tr=sústēma|t=an organized whole]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A biological system made up of all the organisms living in a particular physical environment, interacting with it and with each other: 1935, in A. G. Tansley's article in ''Ecology''.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Merriam-Webster and Etymonline give the same year,^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) and Dictionary.com 1930–35.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The OED notes that formations with ''eco-'' were at first mostly confined to specialist scientific language, and became much more common later in the century;^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates ''eco-'' as a free word-forming element referring to the environment to 1969.^(Etymonline) ''Ecosystem'' itself is now also used in an extended sense of any complex network of interacting parts, such as a commercial or technological system.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1866 – [[m|de|Oecologie]] coined by Haeckel.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1935 – a community of organisms and its physical environment, in Tansley's article.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1969 – Etymonline's date for ''eco-'' as a free element referring to the environment.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(ecology)'' A [[community]] of living [[organism|alt=organisms]] together with the non-living [[environment]] they live in, considered as a system of interactions: ''the coral reef ecosystem''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A complex network of interconnected parts, people or businesses, likened to a biological ecosystem: ''the city's start-up ecosystem''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ecology]]

+ * [[economy]]

+ * [[system]]

+ * [[biosphere]]

+ * [[habitat]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}