biogenicadj.
/ˌbʌɪə(ʊ)ˈdʒɛnɪk/, U.S. /ˌbaɪoʊˈdʒɛnɪk/ 1.
a. Biology. Productive of life; required for the metabolic processes of an organism. Now rare.
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1866 H. Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 148 We may..divide food into the oxidisable alimentary principles, the force-generators, the biogenic elements, and..force-regulators.
1873 Lancet 8 Mar. 349/2 He concludes, therefore, that the biogenic power of the atmosphere resides in its dust.
2006 Preventing Forward Contamination Mars iv. 41 Life has three minimum prerequisites: biogenic elements (such as carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical for biological molecules), a utilizable source of energy, and liquid water.
b. Geology and Palaeontology. Produced by the action of living organisms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > organism > [adjective] > produced by
biogenic1903
biogenous1927
1903 Science 18 Dec. 789/1 The first group was further subdivided into pyrogenic or igneous rocks; hydrogenic or aqueous rocks; biogenic or organic rocks.
1920 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. (1921) i. xii. 269 The organic or biogenic rocks.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XX. 274/2 Foraminifera and Radiolaria are examples of biogenic sediments.
1967 Radiation Res. 31 652 Distinguishing hydrocarbons of biogenic origin from those of abiogenic origin in ancient sediments.
1990 Sci. Amer. June b94/2 About 60 biogenic minerals, from calcite, galena and fluorite to potassium fluorosilicate, are found among more than 50 phyla.
2006 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 12 Mar. b2 None of this begins to deal with the biogenic pollution that people themselves naturally ‘emit’ into the atmosphere.
2. Biology. = biogenetic adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > theories > [adjective] > of origin or development of life
animalistic1739
panspermic1857
post-Darwinian1865
vitalistic1865
nomogenous1869
biogenetic1870
monogenetic1873
biogenetic1879
vitalistic1891
ovistic1893
biogenic1901
hologenetic1936
young-earth1979
1901 Amer. Jrnl. Insanity 5832 That biogenic law of ‘the relegation of the final characters to earlier and earlier ontogenetic stages in the course of phylogeny’.
1904 G. S. Hall Adolescence I. ii. 55 The great biogenic law that the individual recapitulates the growth stages of his race.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) xxi. 367 The study of comparative embryology has led to the formulation of the biogenic law, around which has raged and still rages a bitter controversy.
2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life i. iv. 68 But even von Baer's biogenic law is really only an observation—not a ‘law’ at all—and it holds only up to a point.
Compounds
biogenic amine n. an amine produced by a living organism, spec. one that is active in the nervous system, esp. as a neurotransmitter.
ΚΠ
1921 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 43 2129 A compilation of the literature on biogenic amines down to the early months of 1919 both from the viewpoint of the chemist and the pharmacologist.
1959 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 81 6222/1 Hydroxylation mechanisms of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine (‘dopamine’), a biogenic amine of key importance in metabolism.
1995 New Scientist 25 Feb. 3/3 Brunner says that people who can not produce MAO A may be unable to metabolise chemicals called biogenic amines found in foods such as cheese.
2007 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 7 Nov. 41 The same device is very good at sniffing out biogenic amines such as tyramine and histamine, which some scientists believe cause the headache [from drinking red wine].
Derivatives
ˌbioˈgenically adv. by means of living organisms; in a biogenic manner.
ΚΠ
1941 A. Knopf in Geology, 1888–1938 (Geol. Soc. Amer.) 351 Such primary dolomites were deposited in three ways: chemically, biogenically as algal crusts, and mechanically as laminae of elastic particles.
1979 Science 5 Jan. 81/1 We..have never found a significant concentration of biogenically produced hydrocarbons.
2001 N.Y. Times 24 Nov. a11/1 The crystals can be produced by inorganic processes or biogenically by living bacteria.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1866