ontogeny

ontogeny
    n 1: (biology) the process of an individual organism growing
         organically; a purely biological unfolding of events
         involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to
         a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of osseous
         development in children" [syn: {growth}, {growing},
         {maturation}, {development}, {ontogeny}, {ontogenesis}]
         [ant: {nondevelopment}]
    

Ontogenesis \On`to*gen"e*sis\, Ontogeny \On*tog"e*ny\, n. [See
   {Ontology}, and {Genesis}.] (Biol.)
   The history of the individual development of an organism; the
   sequence of events involved in the development of an
   organism; the history of the evolution of the germ; the
   development of an individual organism, -- in distinction from
   {phylogeny}, or evolution of the tribe. Called also
   {henogenesis}, {henogeny}.

   Syn: growth, growing, maturation, development.
        [1913 Webster]