natural selection

English

Etymology

Coined by British biologist Charles Darwin in 1859 in his work On the Origin of Species.

Pronunciation

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Noun

natural selection (uncountable)

1. (evolutionary theory) A process by which heritable traits conferring survival and reproductive advantage to individuals, or related individuals, tend to be passed on to succeeding generations and become more frequent in a population, whereas other less favourable traits tend to become eliminated; the differential survival and reproduction of phenotypes.
   • 2024 July 24, Richard Foster, “Rail reform has never been easy”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 28:

     Yes, there were hundreds of companies in existence, but a form of natural selection was taking place. Weaker companies were swallowed up by larger ones.

Synonyms

• survival of the fittest

Related terms

• artificial selection
• sexual selection
• supernatural selection

Translations

natural selection

• Arabic: اِنْتِقَاءٌ طَبِيعِيّ m (intiqāʔun ṭabīʕiyy)
• Armenian: բնական ընտրություն (bnakan əntrutʻyun)
• Catalan: selecció natural f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 自然選擇／自然选择 (zi⁶ jin⁴ syun² zaak⁶), 天擇／天择 (tin¹ zaak⁶)

  Hokkien: 自然選擇／自然选择 (chū-jiân soán-te̍k), 天擇／天择 (thian-te̍k)

  Mandarin: 自然選擇／自然选择 (zh) (zìrán xuǎnzé), 天擇／天择 (zh) (tiānzé)

• Czech: přírodní výběr m
• Danish: naturlig selektion c
• Dutch: natuurlijke selectie f
• Esperanto: natura selektado
• Finnish: luonnonvalinta (fi)
• French: sélection naturelle (fr) f
• Galician: selección natural f
• Georgian: ბუნებრივი გადარჩევა (bunebrivi gadarčeva)
• German: natürliche Selektion (de) f, natürliche Auslese (de) f, natürliche Zuchtwahl f
• Greek: φυσική επιλογή (el) f (fysikí epilogí)
• Hebrew: ברירה טבעית
• Hindi: प्राकृतिक वरण m (prākŕtik varaṇ)
• Hungarian: természetes kiválasztódás (hu)
• Icelandic: náttúruval n
• Indonesian: seleksi alami (id)
• Italian: selezione naturale f
• Japanese: 自然選択 (ja) (しぜんせんたく shizen-sentaku), 自然淘汰 (ja) (しぜんとうた shizen-tōta)
• Kazakh: қозғаушы сұрыпталу (qozğauşy sūryptalu)
• Korean: 자연선택 (jayeonseontaek), 자연도태 (ko) (jayeondotae)
• Latvian: dabiskā izlase f
• Malay: pemilihan semula jadi, pemilihan alamiah
• Maori: whiringa māori
• Mongolian: байгалийн шалгарал (bajgaliin šalgaral)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: naturlig seleksjon m, naturlig utvalg n

  Nynorsk: naturleg seleksjon m, naturleg utval n

• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: dobór naturalny m, selekcja naturalna f
• Portuguese: seleção natural (pt) f
• Romanian: selecție naturală (ro) f
• Russian: есте́ственный отбо́р (ru) m (jestéstvennyj otbór)
• Serbo-Croatian: природна селекција, prirodna selekcija
• Slovak: prirodzený výber
• Spanish: selección natural (es) f
• Swedish: naturligt urval n
• Tagalog: piliang likas
• Thai: การคัดเลือกโดยธรรมชาติ (gaan-kát-lʉ̂ʉak-dooi-tam-má-châat)
• Turkish: doğal seçilim (tr), natürel seleksiyon
• Ukrainian: приро́дний добі́р m (pryródnyj dobír), приро́дний відбі́р m (pryródnyj vidbír)
• Uzbek: tabiiy tanlanish
• Vietnamese: chọn lọc tự nhiên
• Welsh: detholiad naturiol
• Yiddish: נאַטירלעכע סעלעקציע f (natirlekhe selektsye)

See also

• law of the jungle