ontogeny Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level
    development; ontogenesis; maturation; growth; growing.
    • he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children

WordNet

On`to*gen"e*sis, On*tog"e*ny noun (Also<
  • Ontogenesis
  • Ontogeny
)
Etymology
See Ontology, and Genesis.
Definitions
  1. (Biol.) The history of the individual development of an organism; the history of the evolution of the germ; the development of an individual organism, -- in distinction from phylogeny, or evolution of the tribe. Called also henogenesis, henogeny.

Webster 1913