'ontogeny' definitions:

Definition of 'ontogeny'

(from WordNet)
noun
(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children" [syn: growth, growing, maturation, development, ontogeny, ontogenesis] [ant: nondevelopment]