trimorphism

English

Etymology

tri- +‎ -morphism

Noun

trimorphism (countable and uncountable, plural trimorphisms)

(crystallography) The property of crystallizing in three distinct forms.
Titanium dioxide exhibits trimorphism: its three forms are rutile, octahedrite, and brookite.
(biology) The coexistence among individuals of the same species of three distinct forms, not generally connected by intermediate gradations.

Related terms

dimorphism
polymorphism
trimorphic

Translations

property of crystallizing in three distinct forms

Catalan: trimorfisme m

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for trimorphism in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)