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-taxis

suff.

1. Order; arrangement: homotaxis.

2. Responsive movement; taxis: chemotaxis.

[From Greek, from taxis; see TAXIS.]

tax·is

(tăksĭs)

n. pl. tax·es (tăksēz)

1. Biology The responsive movement of a free-moving organism or cell toward or away from an external stimulus, such as light.

2. Medicine The moving of a body part by manipulation into normal position, as after a dislocation, fracture, or hernia.

[Greek, arrangement, from tassein, tag-, to arrange.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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