survival of the fittest

English

Etymology

• Coined by philosopher Herbert Spencer in 1864.

Noun

survival of the fittest (uncountable)

1. Natural selection.
   • 1872, Charles Darwin, “Chapter IV”, in The Origin of Species, edition Sixth London Edition:

     Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may have been effected in the long course of time through nature's power of selection, that is by the survival of the fittest.

Translations

natural selection

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最適者生存 (cmn), 最适者生存 (cmn) (zuìshìzhě shēngcún)

• Finnish: luonnonvalinta (fi), taistelu olemassaolosta (fi)
• French: survie du plus apte (fr) f

• German: Überleben der Bestangepassten (de) n
• Irish: Seasamh na dTréan (ga)
• Japanese: 適者生存 (ja) (てきしゃせいぞん, tekisha-seizon)
• Norwegian: den sterkeste overlever (no)
• Russian: выживание сильнейших (ru) (vyživánije sil'néjšix) n