English
exaptation
Blend of ex- + adaptation.
A blend of ex- + adaptation
Latin apiō ‘to bind, fasten, join’
Latin aptō ‘to fasten, fit, apply, adjust’
Latin adaptō ‘to fit, adjust, modify’
Medieval Latin adaptātiō
French adaptation
English adaptation
The story
Coined 1982 by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba to avoid the perceived teleological baggage of the existing term preadaptation.
Today it means
noun The use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / exaptation