xenobiology

English

WOTD – 28 May 2007

Etymology

xeno- +‎ biology. Sometimes attributed to science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌzɛnəʊbaɪˈɒlədʒi/, /ˌziːnəʊbaɪˈɒlədʒi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈziːnoʊbaɪˌɑːlədʒi/, /ˌzɛnoʊbaɪˈɑːlədʒi/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (US)

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Noun

xenobiology (uncountable)

1. The speculative biology of extraterrestrial life forms.

   Synonyms: astrobiology, exobiology

2. The biology of life forms with non-standard biochemistry or codes.

Translations

speculative biology of extraterrestrial life

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宇宙生物学 (zh), 外空生物学, 异源生物学

• Estonian: ksenobioloogia
• Finnish: ksenobiologia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: xénobiologie (fr) f
• German: Xenobiologie f
• Japanese: 宇宙生物学 (uchū seibutsugaku)
• Khmer: ទេសជីវវិទ្យា (teih chiivoa vityie)

Further reading

• xenobiology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia