1. Accretion	The binding or interaction of molecules in a specific sequential order.
2. Attractor	An attractor is a stable state or set of states in a dynamical system toward which the system tends to evolve over time, regardless of its starting conditions within a certain region (the basin of attraction).
3. Assembly	Small molecules spontaneously assemble into stable aggregates in a specific manner.
4. Biological Evolution	An evolutionary mode based on biological forms not only exhibits a continuous transition with chemical evolution but is also not limited to natural selection.
5. Chemical Evolution	A series of abiotic chemical reactions on early Earth led to the formation of increasingly complex organic molecules, ultimately laying the foundation for the origin of life.
6. Collectively Autocatalytic Set (CAS)	It is a system of molecules where each molecule can be produced by at least one catalytic reaction within the set, making the entire network self-sustaining and capable of reproduction.
7. Compositional Information	The pattern of chemical composition within a system—such as the types and proportions of different molecules can itself store and transmit information.
8. Composome	A system or composite entity with specific components that can self-reproduce.
9. Graded Autocatalysis Replication Domain (GARD) Model	It is Lancet’s computational framework that simulates how collections of mutually catalytic molecules (e.g., lipid-like assemblies) can grow and fission, mutate, self-reproduce, exhibit rudimentary compositional inheritance, and selection without nucleic acids, offering a possible prebiotic pathway to early biological evolution.
10. Genetic Information	Linear instruction information encoded by nucleic acid sequences (such as DNA/RNA) and accurately transmitted through template replication.
11. Kinetic Coding	Following thermodynamic coding in the SCE model, transition-state stabilization and catalytic conversion that occur due to the internal specific RNA sequence configurations that lead to chemical transformation and/or allosteric changes.
12. Metabolism-first	It refers to the hypothesis that life originated from self-sustaining and evolving networks of chemical reactions (early metabolic cycles) before the emergence of genetic replication mechanisms like RNA.
13. Metabolic GARD (M-GARD)	The metabolic form of GARD. A version of the model in which not only entry and exit into assemblies occur, involving only non-covalent binding, and covalent synthesis also occurs.
14. Mutually Catalytic Network	A network system formed by intermolecular mutual catalytic interactions, serving as one of the models for the transition from prebiotic chemical systems to living systems.
15. Oligonucleotide	A type of short-chain nucleic acid polymer, (which can be DNA or RNA), typically composed of 5-50 nucleotides.
16. Polymer GARD (P-GARD)	Metabolic-GARD version in which polymers appear.
17. RAF (Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food-Generated)	A measurable and computable version of Kaufmann’s CAS model, similar to GARD.
18. RNA (Replication)-first	One of the core hypotheses in the field of the origin of life, which posits that RNA molecules were the earliest biomacromolecules capable of both genetic inheritance and catalytic functions, serving as the evolutionary precursor to the DNA and protein systems.
19. RNA Replicase	A type of RNA template-dependent nucleic acid polymerase, whose core function is to mediate the replication process of RNA molecules.
20. RNA World	A core hypothesis in the field of the origin of life, proposing that prior to the emergence of the DNA-protein system, there existed a stage of life evolution centered around RNA.
21. SCE—Stable Complex Evolution (Encoding) Model	Stable complexes formed through the folding or accretion interactions of molecules may possess allosteric and chemical transformation capabilities. The molecular configurations that mediate allostery and chemical transformations are considered a form of encoding.
22. Sequence Information	Refers to the specific linear arrangement order of nucleotides in DNA/RNA that encodes the sequence of proteins, which in all constitute genetic instructions guiding the formation of biological structures and functions.
23. Thermodynamic Coding	In the SCE model, energy minimization interactions between molecules encompass specific thermodynamic information.