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Where does the word "biosphere" come from? It comes from Greek bios, and was adopted directly into English (1899).
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Where does the word "biosphere" come from? It comes from Greek bios, and was adopted directly into English (1899).
Biosphere’s story begins in Greek: bios meant “life.” Life, combined with sphaira (sphere), for the zone of life on earth. It reached English by 1899 as biosphere. Coined by geologists for the global sum of all ecosystems. Today, biosphere means the regions of the earth's surface and atmosphere occupied by living organisms.
- Stage 1 · Greek · ancient bios "life", life, combined with sphaira (sphere), for the zone of life on earth.
- Stage 2 · English · 1899 biosphere "the global sum of all living ecosystems", coined by geologists for the global sum of all ecosystems.