holophyletic
|ho-lo-phy-let-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌhoʊloʊfaɪˈlɛtɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌhɒləfaɪˈlɛtɪk/
whole descendant group
Etymology
'holophyletic' originates from Greek, specifically the element 'holos' meaning 'whole' and 'phyletic' derived from Greek 'phylon' meaning 'race' or 'tribe'.
'holophyletic' was formed in modern scientific English by combining the prefix 'holo-' with the adjective-forming element related to 'phylon' (Greek) and came into use in 20th-century biological literature as a technical term.
Initially the components literally meant 'whole' + 'tribe' (a general sense), but the compound evolved into the specialized technical meaning 'a group that includes all descendants of a common ancestor'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
in phylogenetics: describing a group (clade) that includes a common ancestor and all of its descendants; synonymous with monophyletic.
The genus was regarded as holophyletic, containing all species descended from the common ancestor.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/12/21 06:40