metamere

noun

meta·​mere ˈme-tə-ˌmir 

: any of a linear series of primitively similar segments into which the body of a higher invertebrate or vertebrate is divisible

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Metamer, from meta- meta- + -mer -mere

Note: The term was introduced by Ernst haeckel in Generelle Morphologie der Organismen, 2. Band, Allgemeine Entwicklungsgeschichte der Organismen (Berlin, 1866), p. 5, passim. The sense is perhaps clarified by his vernacular rendering of the plural Metameren as Folgestücke, literally, "parts in succession."

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

metamere

noun

meta·​mere ˈmet-ə-ˌmi(ə)r 

: any of a linear series of primitively similar segments into which the body of a higher invertebrate or vertebrate is divisible and which are usually clearly distinguishable in the embryo, identifiable in somewhat modified form in various invertebrates (as annelid worms), and detectable in the adult higher vertebrate only in specialized segmentally arranged structures (as cranial and spinal nerves or vertebrae) : somite