Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

telegony

American  
[tuh-leg-uh-nee] / təˈlɛg ə ni /

noun

  1. a former belief that a sire can influence the characteristics of the progeny of the female parent and subsequent mates.

telegony British  
/ ˌtɛlɪˈɡɒnɪk, tɪˈlɛɡənɪ /

noun

  1. genetics the supposed influence of a previous sire on offspring borne by a female to other sires

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • telegonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of telegony

First recorded in 1890–95; tele- 1 + -gony

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.