Definition of PALINGENESIS

palingenesis

Meanings

Plural: palingeneses

Noun

  • emergence during embryonic development of various characters or structures that appeared during the evolutionary history of the strain or species
  • Rebirth; regeneration; (countable) an instance of this.
  • The recurrence of historical events in the same order in an infinite series of cycles.
  • Rebirth; regeneration; (countable) an instance of this.
  • Spiritual rebirth through the transmigration of the soul.
  • Rebirth; regeneration; (countable) an instance of this.
  • The apparent repetition, during the development of a single embryo, of changes that occurred previously in the evolution of its species.
  • The regeneration of magma by the melting of metamorphic rocks.

Origin / Etymology

Probably a variant of palingenesia + -genesis (suffix meaning ‘origin; production’). Palingenesia is a learned borrowing from Late Latin palingenesia (“rebirth; regeneration”), from Koine Greek παλιγγενεσία (palingenesía, “rebirth”), from Ancient Greek πᾰ́λῐν (pắlĭn, “again, anew, once more”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn (end-over-end); to revolve around; to dwell, sojourn”)) + γένεσις (génesis, “creation; manner of birth; origin, source”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, palin- + genesis.
Sense 2 (“apparent repetition, during the development of a single embryo, of changes that occurred previously in the evolution of its species”) is from German Palingenesis; while sense 3 (“regeneration of magma by the melting of metamorphic rocks”) is from Swedish palingenes. Both are derived from the Greek word: see above.
The plural form is probably from palingenesis + Latin genesēs (a plural form of genesis).

Scrabble Score: 15

palingenesis is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
palingenesis is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
palingenesis is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 20

palingenesis is a valid Words With Friends word