metabolism
/məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.78 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
Countable; Uncountable
name
A post-war Japanese architectural movement that fused ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth.
Example Sentences
- "The metabolisms of aerobic bacteria require oxygen"
- "Small animals have a much higher metabolism than large animals because they lose more body heat"
- "The results of this generalized speedup of the corporate metabolism are multiple: shorter product life cycles, more leasing and renting, more frequent buying and selling, more ephemeral consumption patterns, […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *me Proto-Indo-European *meth₂? Ancient Greek μετᾰ́ (metắ) Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-) Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der. Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō) Ancient Greek μεταβάλλω (metabállō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek μετᾰβολή (metăbolḗ) Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English metabolism From Ancient Greek μεταβολή (metabolḗ, “change”) + -ism, from μεταβάλλω (metabállō, “to change, to alter”) + -η (-ē, action noun suffix).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/
- British English: /mɪˈtab.ə.lɪz.əm/