Bioluminescence

Etymology

A modern scientific compound of Greek "bios" ("life"), Latin "lumen" ("light"), and "-escence" (the beginning of a process). It was coined around the turn of the 20th century as biologists studied glowing organisms.

noun · /BY-oh-loo-mih-NES-ence/
The production of light by living organisms through a chemical reaction, as in fireflies and glowing plankton.
What it names
One of nature’s most magical phenomena — cold light made by life itself.
Example
Each wave broke in a blue flash of bioluminescence.
Related idea
Bioluminescence is light made chemically by life; phosphorescence is a purely physical afterglow, where a material slowly re-emits light it absorbed earlier.