biomass

English

Etymology

From bio- +‎ mass.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.ə(ʊ)ˌmæs/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: bi‧o‧mass

Noun

biomass (usually uncountable, plural biomasses)

1. The total mass of a living thing or part thereof, such as a cell.
   • 2005, David A Guertin and David M Sabatini, chapter "Cell Size Control" in Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, Wiley:

     Since protein constitutes the majority of the biomass of a cell, building new protein is a major way that cells increase their size.

2. The total mass of all living things within a specific area, habitat etc.
   • 2015, Theo Tait, ‘Don't wear yum-yum yellow’, London Review of Books, vol. 34 no. 15:

     In the untouched Shangri-la-like Kingman Reef in the Line Islands in the central Pacific, sharks make up 75 per cent of the fish biomass.

3. Vegetation used as a fuel, or source of energy, especially if cultivated for that purpose.
   • 1997, R. Socolow, Industrial Ecology and Global Change, Cambridge University Press (→ISBN), page 199

     Advanced technologies such as gasifier/gas turbine systems for electric power generation and fuel cells for transportation make it possible for biomass to provide a substantial share of world energy in the decades ahead, at competitive costs.

   • 2020 April 22, Paul Stephen, “COVID-19: meet the railway heroes”, in Rail, page 41:

     Among the key contracts she works on is the supply of coal and biomass to Drax power station and extensive rail operations for British Steel.

   • 2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, pages 60-61:

     All vegetation and tree stumps were sent to a local recycling facility to be turned into biomass.

Derived terms

• nonbiomass
• phytobiomass
• zoobiomass

Related terms

• mineralomass

Translations

total mass of living things

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生物量 (zh) (shēngwùliàng)

• Czech: biomasa (cs) f
• Esperanto: biomaso
• Finnish: biomassa (fi)
• French: biomasse (fr) f
• German: Biomasse (de) f
• Hebrew: בִּיּוֹמַסָּה (he) f (biyomása)
• Ido: biomaso (io)
• Indonesian: biomassa (id)
• Irish: bithmhais f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: バイオマス (ja) (baiomasu)
• Kazakh: биомасса (biomassa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: biomasse m

  Nynorsk: biomasse m

• Polish: biomasa (pl) f
• Portuguese: biomassa (pt) f
• Romanian: biomasă (ro) f
• Russian: биома́сса (ru) f (biomássa)
• Swedish: biomassa (sv) c
• Tagalog: haykimpal
• Vietnamese: sinh khối

vegetation used as fuel

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生物質能／生物质能 (zh) (shēngwù zhìnéng), 生物质能 (zh) (shēngwù zhìnéng)

• Czech: biomasa (cs) f
• Finnish: biomassa (fi)
• French: biomasse (fr) f
• German: Biomasse (de) f
• Irish: bithmhais f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: biomassa (it) f
• Kazakh: биомасса (biomassa)
• Polish: biomasa (pl) f
• Portuguese: biomassa (pt) f
• Russian: биома́сса (ru) f (biomássa)
• Swedish: biomassa (sv) c
• Tagalog: haykimpal
• Vietnamese: sinh khối

References

• “biomass”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.