Meaning

noun (botany) a natural swelling or enlargement: at the base of the stalk or seta in certain mosses or on the cone scale of certain conifers

noun (anatomy) a natural outgrowth or projection on an organ or body part such as the process of a vertebra

originFrom Ancient Greek ἀπόφυσις (apóphusis, “offshoot”), from ἀπό (apó) + φύω (phúō, “to bring forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to exist, to grow”). Equivalent to apo- + -physis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0