Biology Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Biology, including plants, animals, and the study of them. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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olectronics n. Consumers may soon have to learn a new word—“olectronics”—when buying electronic products now a scientific breakthrough has added new features to lamps and cell phones. The first letter “o” in the word is borrowed from “organic”—materials such as plastic, previously believed to act only as an insulator. But three 2000 Noble laureates in chemistry changed that, discovering a way to make organic materials act like metal. [English Biology Technology] [full cite] (Jan. 17, 2005)

opiorphin n. Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers say. The substance, dubbed opiorphin, may spawn a new generation of natural painkillers that relieve pain as well as morphine but without the addictive and psychological side effects of the traditional drug. [English Biology Body Science] [full cite] (Nov. 14, 2006)

organlegger n. The organlegger was officially dead. His heart went into storage immediately. His skin followed, most of it in one piece, all of it still living. The doctor took him apart with exquisite care, like disassembling a flexible, fragile, tremendously complex jigsaw puzzle. The brain was flashburned and the ashes saved for urn burial; but all the rest of the body, in slabs and small blobs and parchment-thin layers and lengths of tubing, went into storage in the hospital’s organ banks. Any one of these units could be packed in a travel case at a moment’s notice and flown to anywhere in the world in not much more than an hour. If the odds broke right, if the right people came down with the right diseases at the right time, the organlegger might save more lives than he had taken. [English Biology Medical] [full cite] (Mar. 4, 2005)

otherkin n.pl. Vampyres quickly learned NOT to sup on most otherkin. Fae blood can do really nasty things to a vampyre. [English Animals, Insects, & Birds Biology] [full cite] (Nov. 8, 2004)

otherkin n.pl. The Otherkin believe they are reincarnated elves, dwarfs, and other mythical and mystical creatures. [English Animals, Insects, & Birds Biology] [full cite] (Nov. 8, 2004)

otherkin n.pl. As kids, many say, they felt out of place in this world, even insisting to their parents that they were adopted. By their late teens, most Otherkin were involved in paganism, fantasy fiction, the Internet, or past-life regression. [English Animals, Insects, & Birds Biology] [full cite] (Nov. 8, 2004)

paruretic n. Bernie is a paruretic and right then, emotionally and physically, the symptoms were torturing him. We’re talking Bashful Bladder Syndrome. In formal terms, as described in the Lancet, Bernie suffers urinary hesitancy, or paruresis, which is “an increase in micturition latency produced by the lack of privacy encountered in public restrooms.” Or, in layman’s terms, an inability to pee in the proximity of other people. [English Biology Body] [full cite] (Apr. 18, 2007)

photoporation n. St Andrews researchers have created a new technique that relies on a method called “photoporation.” This innovative method allows insoluble compounds such as genes and drugs to be injected into individual cells with the assistance of light. This will allow the potential detection of specific diseases and assist in the development of medication. [English Biology Science Jargon] [full cite] (Nov. 30, 2008)

probability neglect n. Humans are the only species that understand risk, but we also engage in what’s called “probability neglect.” This is when we ignore probabilities and worry about more traumatic possibilities. [English Biology] [full cite] (Feb. 19, 2007)

sanctuary cell n. Back in 1996, when “cocktails” of antiretroviral drugs were proved effective, some researchers proposed that all cells harboring HIV might eventually die off, leading to eradication of HIV from the body—in short, a cure. Those hopes foundered on the discovery that HIV, which integrates itself into a patient’s own DNA, hides in so-called “sanctuary cells,” where it lies dormant yet remains capable of reigniting an infection. [English Biology Body] [full cite] (Nov. 11, 2008)

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