'''Organic''' has several meanings and related topics. Its original meaning is:
part of, or derived from, living matter. It can be related to, or derived from living organisms:
organic matter. It can mean, relating to, or affecting a bodily
organ: an organic disease.
Organic has also come to mean simply "Resembling something
alive in development or character", which can carry any of a wide array of connotations.
In
chemistry,
organic compounds are those compounds that contain
carbon (with a few exceptions). This usage of the term comes from the fact that these compounds are abundant in living organisms. See
Organic chemistry.
In farming or
gardening, organic can refer to anything involving the use of
fertilizers or
pesticides that are strictly of
animal or
vegetable origin. Organic is also used to describe
livestock that are raised without the use of drugs,
hormones or synthetic chemicals; examples of such things are "organic chicken" and "organic cattle farming". See
Organic farming.
It can mean serving
organic food such as in an "organic restaurant".
It can mean a simple, healthful, and close to nature, an "organic lifestyle".
Organic building materials refer to those that avoid use of petrochemical and other man-made materials (such as
plywood,
vinyl and
fiberglass), instead using materials such as solid
wood,
linoleum,
straw,
adobe and
cotton. These buildings may be intended to reduce problems with
allergies.
The term
organic can also refer to something that constitutes an integral part of a whole; fundamental.
A
military unit predominantly of one type (armour, infantry, artillery, etc.) may incorporate subunits of a different type, to improve
combined arms capability; such subunits are referred to as
organic artillery,
organic armour, etc. See
Organic (military).
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