chemotaxonomy

noun

che·​mo·​tax·​on·​o·​my ˌkē-mō-(ˌ)tak-ˈsä-nə-mē 

: the classification of plants and animals based on similarities and differences in biochemical composition

chemotaxonomic

ˌkē-mō-ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mik 

adjective

chemotaxonomist

ˌkē-mō-(ˌ)tak-ˈsä-nə-mist 

noun

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Chemotaxonomie, from chemo- chemo- + Taxonomie taxonomy

Note: Term promulgated, if not introduced, by the Swiss botanist and biochemist Robert Hegnauer (1919-2007), in "Chemotaxonomische Betrachtungen VI. Phytochemie und Systematik: Eine Rück—und Vorausschau auf die Entwicklung einer Chemotaxonomie," Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae, Band 33 (1958), pp. 287-305. Hegnauer used the adjective chemotaxonomisch "chemotaxonomic" earlier (see "Chemotaxonomische Betrachtung der Leguminosae," Die Pharmazie, 5. Band, Heft 10 [October, 1956], pp. 638-51.)

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above