abiogenic

[ ey-bahy-oh-jen-ik, ab-ee-oh- ]

adjective

, Biology.

1. not resulting from the activity of living organisms.

Other Words From

• abi·o·geni·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of abiogenic¹

First recorded in 1910–15; a- ⁶ + biogenic

Example Sentences

Discovering a small peptide floating in space or on a meteorite with a rather creative repetitive pattern of and amino acids would make an abiogenic origin unlikely.

From Scientific American

Isolated D and L amino acids have both been discovered in space and are thought to be produced by abiogenic processes.

From Scientific American

Abiogenic petroleum could also provide food for one of the most intriguing targets of all for the Deep Carbon Observatory: the bacteria that live in the Earth’s depths.

From Economist

If it turns out that fossil fuels are abiogenic, that probably means they are more abundant than Western geologists think, and may be found in places hitherto thought unpromising.

From Economist