exaptation

Meanings

1. The use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved.
2. The promotion of meaningless or redundant material so that it does new grammatical (morphosyntactic or phonological) or semantic work.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex-der. Middle French ex-bor. Middle English ex- English ex- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Italic *aptos Latin aptus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin apiō ▲ Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin aptō Latin adaptō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Medieval Latin adaptātiōbor. French adaptationbor. English adaptation blend English exaptation Blend of ex- + adaptation. Coined 1982 by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba to avoid the perceived teleological baggage of the existing term preadaptation.