dimorphism
/daɪˈmɔːfɪzəm/ noun
Forms dimorphisms
- noun (biology) The occurrence within a plant of two distinct forms of any part.
- noun (biology) The occurrence in an animal species of two distinct types of individual.
- noun (geology) A property of certain substances that enables them to exist in two distinct crystalline forms.
Etymology
From di- + -morphism.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Difference of form between members of the same species, as when a plant has two kinds of flowers, both hermaphrodite (as in the partridge berry), or when there are two forms of one or both sexes of the same species of butterfly.
- noun Crystallization in two independent forms of the same chemical compound, as of calcium carbonate as calcite and aragonite.
Etymology [Cf. F. dimorphisme.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dimorphism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details