NEOTENY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An evolutionary trend to be born earlier so that development is cut off at an earlier stage and juvenile characteristics are retained in adults of the species

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("neoteny" is a kind of...):

evolutionary trend (a general direction of evolutionary change)

Derivation:

neotenic (of or relating to or characterized by neoteny)

Credits