metabolism

name

1. A post-war Japanese architectural movement that fused ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth.

noun

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) 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 *-íďďō 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).

1. The chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.

   “The metabolisms of aerobic bacteria require oxygen”

2. The rate at which these processes occur for a given organism

   “Small animals have a much higher metabolism than large animals because they lose more body heat”

3. The processes that maintain any dynamic system.

   “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, […]”