Seeking; moving towards.
Latin petus, seeking, from petere, seek.
The most common term in this ending is centripetal, moving or tending to move towards a centre, the opposite of centrifugal. In botany, growth or development that is basipetal is downwards towards the base or point of attachment, its opposite being acropetal (Greek akron, tip); corticopetal refers to something originating outside the cerebral cortex and running into it.
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Your comments are very welcome.