cross-fertilization

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From cross- + fertilization.

Noun

cross-fertilization (countable and uncountable, plural cross-fertilizations)

  1. Fertilization by the union of gametes of different plants (sometimes of different species).
  2. (by extension) The mutual exchange of ideas or concepts from different fields for mutual benefit.
    • 2002, Frank Tenaille, translated by Steven Toussaint and Hope Sandrine, Music Is the Weapon of the Future: Fifty Years of African Popular Music, Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, →ISBN, page 183:
      His fame led to some curious cultural cross-fertilizations. In Japan, the Yamamoto-clad singer stirred up a singular fanaticism—so much so that Japanese charter flights traveled all the way to Kinshasa, while in Tokyo, clone bands skilled at his kind of soukous multiplied.

Translations

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