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A.Word.A.Day--panmixia

The Canary Islands aren't named after any birds. A light-year isn't a unit of time. And panmixia is, well, nothing to do with mixing things in a pan. These are red-herring words that appear to mislead us in the beginning but if we look deeper, everything becomes obvious.

The Canary Islands got their name from dogs (Latin canis); canaries are named after the islands! A light-year is a unit of distance (how far light can travel in a year). This week we'll see a few more words in this category -- words that aren't what they appear to be.

panmixia (pan-MIK-see-uh) noun

Random breeding (without regard to selecting a partner with particular traits) within a population. Also known as panmixis.

[From Greek pan- (all) + mixis (mixing). Ultimately from the Indo-European root meik- (to mix) that's also the source of mix, miscellaneous, meddle, medley, promiscuous, melee, and mustang.]

"The panmixia hypothesis -- that all European eels migrate to the Sargasso Sea of reproduction and comprise a single, randomly mating population -- is widely accepted."
Thierry Wirth and Louis Bernatchez; Genetic Evidence Against Panmixia in the European Eel; Nature (London, UK): Feb 22, 2001.

X-Bonus