automorphism
|au-to-morph-ism|
🇺🇸
/ˌɔːtəˈmɔːrfɪzəm/
🇬🇧
/ˌɔːtəˈmɔːfɪzəm/
self-isomorphism (structure-preserving map to itself)
Etymology
'automorphism' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'autos' and 'morphē', where 'autos' meant 'self' and 'morphē' meant 'form' (with the suffix '-ism' from Greek '-ismos').
'automorphism' is a modern scientific coinage formed from Greek roots (via New Latin/modern mathematical usage) and entered English mathematical vocabulary in the late 19th to early 20th century.
Initially it combined the senses of 'self' and 'form'; over time it acquired the precise technical meaning 'an isomorphism from an object to itself' in mathematics.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in mathematics, an isomorphism from a mathematical object to itself; a bijective structure-preserving map from the object onto itself.
The automorphism of the graph maps each vertex to another vertex while preserving adjacency.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/27 07:08