Producing light through biological processes; glowing with living light created by chemical reactions within an organism. The magical ability of creatures to make their own illumination.
A modern word built from Greek bios (life) plus Latin lumen (light) and -escent (becoming). Coined in the 20th century when scientists finally understood how fireflies, jellyfish, and deep-sea creatures create their own light through biochemical magic — luciferin reacting with oxygen to paint the darkness with living stars.
This might be nature's most magical trick — creatures that paint themselves with light! Scientists had to invent this word because they discovered something that sounds like pure fantasy: animals that glow from the inside out. Fireflies writing love letters in light, jellyfish pulsing like alien hearts, mushrooms glowing like fairy rings — they're all bioluminescent. It's life deciding that darkness isn't enough, that the world needs more light, and making it happen with chemistry that reads like poetry!
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