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Premature degeneration of cells or tissue (now usually within the central nervous system), especially when hereditary or otherwise independent of external factors; an instance of this; any condition characterized by this.
Early 20th century; earliest use found in William Richard Gowers (1845–1915), physician. From a- + Hellenistic Greek βιοτρόϕος life-sustaining (from ancient Greek βίο- + -τροϕος, combining form from an ablaut variant of the base of τρέϕειν to nourish: see tropho-) + -y.