ONTOGENY

growth, growing, maturation, development, ontogeny, ontogenesis

(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; “he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

ontogeny (countable and uncountable, plural ontogenies)

ontogenesis

Synonyms

• ontogenesis

Source: Wiktionary

On`to*gen"e*sis, On*tog"e*ny, n. Etym: [See Ontology, and Genesis.] (Biol.)

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition