outcross.
The introduction of unrelated breeding stock to an existing population, especially one which is inbred or homogeneous.
Meaning & usage
The introduction of unrelated breeding stock to an existing population, especially one which is inbred or homogeneous.
A plant or animal produced by such methods.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úd Proto-Germanic *ūt Proto-Germanic *ūt- Old English ūt- Middle English ut- English out- Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Italic *kruks /*krukis Latin cruxbor. Old Irish crosbor. Old Norse krossbor. Old English cros Middle English cross English cross English outcross From out- + cross.
to crossbreed different strains of a plant or animal.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úd Proto-Germanic *ūt Proto-Germanic *ūt- Old English ūt- Middle English ut- English out- Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Italic *kruks /*krukis Latin cruxbor. Old Irish crosbor. Old Norse krossbor. Old English cros Middle English cross English cross English outcross From out- + cross.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.