mutualism

English

Hummingbird hawkmoth drinking from Dianthus. Pollination is a classic example of mutualism (sense 1).

Etymology

mutual +‎ -ism. Compare French mutualisme and Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish mutualismo.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmjuː.tʃʊ.əˌlɪz.m̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmju.tʃu.əˌlɪz.m̩/
• Hyphenation: mu‧tu‧al‧ism

Noun

mutualism (countable and uncountable, plural mutualisms)

1. (ecology) Any interaction between two species that benefits both; typically involves the exchange of substances or services.
2. An economic theory and anarchist school of thought that advocates a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market.

Related terms

• commensalism

Translations

interaction between two species that benefits both

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 互利共生 (hùlì-gòngshēng), 互惠共生 (hùhuì-gòngshēng), 相利共生 (xiānglì-gòngshēng)

• Finnish: mutualismi (fi)
• French: mutualisme (fr) m
• Indonesian: mutualisme (id)
• Italian: mutualismo (it) m
• Japanese: 相利共生 (sōrikyōsei)
• Malay: kesalingan

• Portuguese: mutualismo (pt) m
• Romanian: mutualism (ro) n
• Slovene: mutualizem m
• Spanish: mutualismo (es) m
• Swedish: mutualism (sv) c