atavic etymology

Etymology:

  • Latin: atavus ("great-grandfather")
  • Proto-Indo-European: *h₂ewos ("grandfather, ancestor")

Meaning:

  • Relating to or resembling a remote ancestor or an earlier stage of development; primitive or ancestral.

Origin:

The term "atavic" originally referred to the characteristics or traits inherited from a great-grandfather. However, it has since been generalized to refer to any ancestral or primitive feature.

Use in Biology:

In biology, atavisms are traits or organs that reappear in an organism after having been absent for several generations. These traits may be rudimentary or fully developed and are often thought to be vestigial, or leftovers from an ancestor that once had a function.

Example:

A atavistic human trait is the presence of a tailbone, which is a remnant of our evolutionary past when we had tails.

atavic relate terms

  • atavism

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