noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The part of a long bone that grows during development countable
2. 2
   the growing part of a long bone between the diaphysis and the epiphysis wordnet
3. 3
   Change of form; transformation. countable, uncountable

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “after”) + Ancient Greek φύσις (phúsis, “growth”), equivalent to meta- + -physis.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.