Monday, December 31, 2012

anthropogenic

anthropogenic \an-thruh-puh-JEN-ik\, adjective:

Caused or produced by humans: anthropogenic air pollution.

We have already mentioned the fact that many anthropogenic myths made use of clay in the creation of man, and anyone moderately interested in the subject can find out more in know-it-all almanacs and knowitalmostall encyclopedias.
-- Jose Saramago, The Cave
Millie was listening to an argument about anthropogenic climate change at an international relief conference in Washington DC.
-- Steven Gould, Impulse

Anthropogenic was coined in the 1880s. It is a combination of the prefix anthro- meaning "human being" and -genic meaning "produced by or causing."

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