Definition of NEOTENY

Examples of neoteny in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Humans are hopelessly drawn to neoteny—the kissable, squishable, button-nosed, big-eyed, irresistibility of babies—and your parents will generally have your back. — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, "Dear Royal Baby: Being the Youngest Child Comes With Some Surprising Advantages," 23 Apr. 2018

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History and Etymology for neoteny

borrowed from German Neotenie, from Greek néos "young" + -o- -o- + teínein "to stretch, extend" + German -ie -y entry 2 — more at new entry 1, thin entry 1

Note: The word Neotenie was introduced by the German biologist Julius Kollmann (1834-1918) in "Das Ueberwintern von europäischen Frosch- und Tritonlarven und die Umwandlung des mexikanischen Axolotl," Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 7. Theil, 2. Heft (1884), p. 391. In explaining the coinage, Kollmann inaccurately glossed Greek teínein as "halten, hinhalten" ("hold, hold/put off"), perhaps through confusion with Latin tenēre "to hold."

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