A general term or principle describing the quality of being short or shortened.
From Greek 'brachys' (short) + '-ism' (quality or practice), a theoretical construct in classification systems.
This is one of those abstract terms that scientists use as a catch-all for 'the state of being short'—it's particularly useful in taxonomy and classification when you're trying to describe an overall tendency in an organism's structure!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.