Pedomorphy

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of paedomorphy. US, alt-of, alternative, uncountable

    "Richard Wrangham has noted that the domestication of animals usually tames them by slowing down components of the developmental timetable to retain juvenile traits into adulthood, a process called pedomorphy or neoteny."

Example

More examples

"Richard Wrangham has noted that the domestication of animals usually tames them by slowing down components of the developmental timetable to retain juvenile traits into adulthood, a process called pedomorphy or neoteny."

Etymology

From pedo- (“child”) + -morphy.

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