heteromerous
|het-er-o-mer-ous|
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/ˌhɛtərəˈmɪrəs/
🇬🇧
/ˌhɛtərəˈmɪərəs/
made of different parts
Etymology
'heteromerous' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'heteros' and 'meros', where 'heteros' meant 'other, different' and 'meros' meant 'part'.
'heteromerous' was formed in scientific/Neo-Latin usage (e.g. 'heteromerus') in modern scientific writing and entered English as a technical adjective to describe assemblies of unlike parts, particularly in biology and chemistry.
Initially, the components 'heteros' + 'meros' meant 'other part' or 'different part', and over time the compound came to mean generally 'consisting of different parts' in scientific and general usage.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
consisting of unlike or different parts; not homogeneous.
The sculpture was intentionally heteromerous, combining wood, metal, and glass.
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Adjective 2
in biology/chemistry: composed of different kinds of subunits (contrast with homomerous/ homomeric). Often used to describe protein complexes that contain nonidentical subunits.
The enzyme functions as a heteromerous complex with two distinct polypeptide chains.
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Last updated: 2025/09/18 03:43