What does "paedomorphic" mean?

Of, relating to, or resulting from the retention of juvenile characteristics by an adult.

What is a synonym for "paedomorphic"?

Common synonyms include: neotenic, neotenic.

How do you pronounce "paedomorphic"?

Pronounced //ˌpidəˈmɔɹfɪk//.

Paedomorphic

//ˌpidəˈmɔɹfɪk// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of, relating to, or resulting from the retention of juvenile characteristics by an adult.
"Based on pedomorphic changes in the fossils of Paleolithic humans, Wrangham has suggested that a similar process has been taking place in human evolution during the past thirty to fifty thousand years, and may still be taking place."

Synonyms

All synonyms

neotenic neotenic

Example

More examples

"Based on pedomorphic changes in the fossils of Paleolithic humans, Wrangham has suggested that a similar process has been taking place in human evolution during the past thirty to fifty thousand years, and may still be taking place."

Etymology

From paedo- + -morphic.

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