aposematism

Meanings

1. An adaptation, especially a form of coloration, that warns off potential predators.

Etymology

apo- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) (from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó, “from, away from”)) + semat(ic) (“acting as a sign of danger”) (from Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign, token”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰyeh₂- (“to notice”) + -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming neuter nouns denoting the object or result of an action, or a particular instance of an action)) + -ism. The word aposematic was coined by British evolutionary biologist Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856–1943) in The Colours of Animals (1890).