atavism
/ˈætəˌvɪzəm/ noun
Forms atavisms
- noun The reappearance of an ancestral characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence; a throwback.
- noun The recurrence or reversion to a past behaviour, method, characteristic or style after a long period of absence.
- noun (sociology) A reversion to past primitive behavior, especially violence.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French atavisme.. By surface analysis, at- (“to”) + Latin av(us) (“grandfather, ancestor”) + -ism. Compare ancestorism.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. atavus an ancestor, fr. avus a grandfather.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “atavism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details