mutation

A mutation is when something changes or develops differently from what it was supposed to be.

In everyday life, people often talk about mutations in the context of genetics and science. They might say "This new plant has a mutation that makes its flowers bigger" or "The gene for this disease has been found to have a mutation." But you don't need to be a scientist to understand what's happening - basically, something that was supposed to grow or develop in one way is growing differently now. This can happen naturally over time, or it might be caused by human intervention like chemicals or radiation.

Mutations can also refer to changes in words, phrases, or languages. For example, if you see a word spelled "colour" but it's supposed to be spelled "color", that could be considered a mutation - the original spelling has changed over time due to how people pronounce and write the word.